Lens of Truth
by kaname's harisen
Summary: Her short nails, jagged from battle, dug painfully into her palms as her mind raced to catch a fleeting thought. There was something - something terribly important - that they were missing. Something obvious. / Written for the #KakaSakuDevotion Lyric Contest on deviantart - second place winner
1. Cataract

******Author's Note: **This was written for the #KakaSakuDevotion Lyric Contest on deviantart. There are eleven prompts for the contest, each containing both a song and POV, and each prompt is required to have its own chapter. Also, each piece has to link to each other for a story progression of how Kakashi and Sakura get together. So far, it has been an interesting challenge. Feedback would be most appreciated!

**1st Prompt:** What Can I Do by The Corrs, Sakura's POV  
**Word Count: **2202  
**Warnings: **some language, non-graphic violence, possible spoilers through chapter 636

The title is in reference to one of the objects in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. The item allows the user to see things not visible to the naked eye.

A special thank you to my impromptu sort-of-beta,** Naeryna**! She has not seen the written chapters - so any mistakes you see are mine! - but she helped talk me through my outline to make sure I wasn't working some plot-hole-no-jutsu.

**Disclaimer: **Naruto belongs to Kishimoto. I am merely playing in the sandbox he has created. I am most definitely not receiving any monetary compensation for my child's play.

* * *

**ooOoo**

_There's only so much I can take  
And I just got to let it go  
And who knows I might feel better  
If I don't try and I don't hope_

**- The Corrs -**

**ooOoo**

* * *

"_Where is he?"_

_Sakura watched as clawed fingers dug into the naked flesh of their enemy's shoulders. Blood was trailing down the man's back, his torso, in slow-building streaks that marred the stark paleness of skin. A low rumbling, sick and guttural, drifted on the air to mix with the cacophony of steel and anguish all around them. With surprise, she realized the man was laughing._

"_This isn't funny!" Gold eyes turned fierce and red chakra bled from every pore. When the laughter didn't stop, instead rose to a chilling insanity, Naruto's voice took on a hard, dark edge that caused the hairs on her neck to stand on end. "Where. Is. My Sensei."_

**ooOoo**

Her shadow, strangled thin by the building clouds, cast a faint outline of darkness on the smooth onyx. Brows furrowed while fingertips gently traced a small grouping of engraved characters, over and over again, until the cold burned into her uncovered joints. The girl released a stuttering breath, causing white to puff about her face, and let her hands fall to her sides.

Winter had decided to usurp autumn, the brisk air heralding its early arrival.

She rummaged in the pouch at her hip, pulling out a simple silver flask. With a practiced hand, the item was balanced on top of the memorial stone, its newer finish a glossy contrast to the older stone adjacent. The girl clasped her hands, palm to palm, in supplication. Her head tipped back, damp verdant eyes searching the sky rather than the normal lowering of respect, and she whispered her prayers to the winds. The contents of the flask, his favorite cheap saké, were poured out in offering and then the container returned to her side.

Sakura turned away, brushing at the saline on her cheeks, and wrapped her cloak tighter around her frame. Her exit from the cemetery was filled with haste and she wove through the village streets with purpose. The girl spared no attention to anyone or anything but the sky. After a few fleeting glances upwards, she narrowed her eyes and pulled up her hood.

The sky rumbled in response.

And then, as she left the front gates of the village, her bearing straight and determined, the atmosphere finally let loose of its burden. The large drops chilled her skin and darkened her garments, but she continued on her way.

A good kunoichi never let something as trivial as the weather affect her resolve when a mission was involved.

"Damn, stupid rain," Sakura grumbled, her mouth set in a grim line.

_That didn't stop a kunoichi from cursing it._

**ooOoo**

The humble inn was a very welcome sight.

Sakura had decided against rest the previous night in favor of reaching her destination early. Camping in the woods had never been her forte and, being it was a solo mission, the kunoichi had not been keen on the prospects. A woman travelling alone had enough to deal with. Sleeping in the woods without back-up could bring on a whole host of unsavory situations.

Sakura chose to err on the side of caution.

The old crone behind the welcome desk raised a brow at Sakura's dishevelment, but gladly accepted her yen and showed the girl to her rented room. At the door, Sakura slipped a few more coins into the woman's withered palm, asking for a meal be brought up in an hour's time. With a good-natured smile and a soft pat on the arm, the woman promised her something warm and hearty.

After bolting the door and checking the quality of the window locks, Sakura headed to the bathroom. It was tiny and just a touch on the shabby side, but it was clean and well stocked.

_It looked heavenly._

Rain had followed her for the entirety of her trip. The last thirty-two hours had been spent with mud wedged between her toes, rubbing blisters into her soles, and freezing moisture burrowing through her clothing, despite wearing her best water-resistant cloak. At first, she had tried to keep to the trees, using the branches for a high road to protect her feet, but a slip with near-disastrous results made the girl change her game plan.

What she saw in the mirror did her travels justice. Her hair, damp and dingy, clung to her head and her garments, heavy from the weather, were discolored in deep earthen hues. Dried mud was clumped about her arms and face and left a trail of sandal-prints behind her as it dislodged from her shoes. Scabs were forming over an elbow and the knuckles of one hand, results of her earlier fall. Weariness had settled into the lines around her eyes, accented by deep purple rings and skin that had dulled with fatigue.

All Sakura wanted was a hot shower, a good meal, and some sleep.

And since she didn't have to meet her contact for another six hours, the girl was determined to get what she wanted.

**ooOoo**

"_You're wasting your breath, Naruto," Sasuke scoffed, a callous glare focused on his dying clansman. "He's not going to tell you anything."_

"_Fine." The blond's shoulders started to tremble before curling in on his body. As he shoved the man to the ground, the blue seeped back into his eyes, quietly overflowing down his cheeks, and the red receded. "We'll find him ourselves."_

_The dark roll of laughter returned, weak and punctuated by blood-speckled gasps. "So naïve, the lot of you."_

_Sakura's fists tightened as she watched the scene unfold. Her short nails, jagged from battle, dug painfully into her palms as her mind raced to catch a fleeting thought. There was something, something terribly important, that they were missing. _

_Something obvious._

_The girl knelt beside her enemy, grabbed his chin, and forced his attentions on her. Her anger was palpable, a controlled and dangerous force, when she spoke. "What do you mean, Obito?"_

"_Ask your Uchiha. Surely he knows at least that much."_

_Sakura looked to Sasuke in question. A momentary flash of confusion crossed his features, only to be replaced by frustration. "He's trapped. The kamui is incomplete."_

_She nodded, the implications clicking into place in her head, and turned away. The girl examined her palms and considered her enemy. Maybe, if she started immediately, if she poured enough chakra into his system, she could keep him alive just long enough. _

"_What the hell are you talking about?"_

"_It requires two eyes to work properly, idiot. Kakashi's eye can't get him out."_

_The man was bleeding out quickly and there was damage to every organ, every cell of his body. She shifted slightly, her knees squelching in the sticky red soil, and began pushing her healing energy to her hands._

"_I don't get it."_

"_Of course, you don't."_

"_It's because you're not explaining anything! Sakura, do you get it?"_

_Sakura placed her hands over his chest, but hesitated. It was their best chance to reach Kakashi in time. She just had to be careful, precise. Give him enough chakra that he could function, not enough to turn on them. Wet coughing drew her concern. He was slipping away and with him their options for retrieving their sensei. Ignoring her arguing comrades, the girl steeled her resolve and lowered her palms._

"_Save your chakra for the battle, Rin," Obito admonished, grabbing her wrist. His eyes were glazed over, no longer tracking the actions of those surrounding him. The movements of his chest became shallow, his diction dull with the strain of pending death. "I can't go there anymore. The Jyuubi… You'll have to get Kakashi out yourself. Y- You'll need both…"_

"_Sakura?"_

_The girl stood abruptly, eyes wide with something akin to panic. She ripped the summoning scroll from its place in her vest and promptly completed the ritual._

"_What? I don't… Can someone please explain to me what's going on?!"_

"_Naruto, that can wait!" Sakura fumbled through her medic bag to find her surgical kit. She took a deep, steadying breath and then spoke to the small familiar on her shoulder. "Katsuyu, I need to harvest these eyes."_

**ooOoo**

Sakura awoke with adrenaline coursing through her and blood pounding in her ears. She flipped off the bed with graceful fluidity and pulled a kunai from her vest. Something felt wrong in the room, the change bringing her to instant alertness, and the kunoichi posed herself for defense.

"It is considered unprofessional to sleep on the job, Hag."

Her body relaxed at the sound of the familiar voice and she lowered her weapon. "It is common courtesy to knock before entering a lady's room."

"I did. You were snoring too loudly to hear over your own noise. I had to improvise," the man supplied. "Besides, it is still unclear whether you can be classified as a lady."

"Sai, do you want to be punched through the wall again?" Sakura threatened, but with little bite to her words. She'd gotten used to his particular brand of banter long ago and, if she was being honest, had come to actually enjoy it.

"I don't have the time for your violence." He dropped the smile he had been wearing in favor of a placid seriousness. "If I'm not back soon, it will raise suspicions."

"Fine. But be expecting it next month," the girl huffed in mock irritation.

"Of course." The smile returned as he handed her a sealed scroll. "Be careful."

"Always."

**ooOoo**

"Dammit."

Complacency had set in the closer she got to the village. The day had been bright and fair, with only a hint of frost in the air, and the girl slowed her pace to enjoy the sun. She had not be completely negligent though, scanning her surroundings for foreign chakra signatures as she went. Nothing had seemed amiss.

Now, facing down a half-dozen armed bandits, Sakura recognized her stupidity.

These men were no shinobi. Under normal circumstances, she would have barely batted an eye. Even now, Sakura had little worry that she could defuse the situation. But her carelessness had given one of them - a slimy, fat tub of a man - opportunity. He had grabbed her from behind, pawing at her with sexual intent. The ensuing struggle left her with a gouged eye and him a neatly slit throat.

Her medical expertise told her that she would lose that eye.

Sakura turned back to her opponents, chakra flared in anger and red streaking her face. Two men paled and fled on shaking legs. The other four widened their stances and prepared for battle. With a wry grin, the kunoichi pulled on her gloves and watched the fear grow in their eyes.

"Are you ready for some pain, boys?"

**ooOoo**

"Prep the surgery room. Quickly!"

"Yes, milady."

"I'll be back as soon as I can. I expect everything to be ready when I return."

"Wait! You're leaving? _Now_? But Sakura-"

"Shizune, I need Katsuyu to retrieve something for me."

"Oh, I see."

"It has to be done. There's no other way."

"I understand. I'll take care of it, milady."

**ooOoo**

"_Shishou, please!"_

"_I'm sorry, Sakura." The blonde woman rubbed the bridge of her nose, letting out a deep sigh. "But we have to be realistic. It's been almost two months. Kakashi was wounded and stranded there without supplies. He's gone. It's time for you to accept that."_

"_But we have the other eye," she argued. Her face was tear-streaked and determined. "Can't we at least-"_

"_At least, what? Implant the eye in someone else? Attempt a rescue? Do you know how long that will take? The recovery time? The training time?" The hokage shook her head. "I'm not going to approve that just to retrieve a body."_

_Sakura's heart stopped, bringing her voice to a whisper. "Please, don't ask me to give up."_

"_I have to."_

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"_Don't give up."_

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"_Get off your ass and get me out of here."_


	2. Optical Illusion

**Author's Note:** I will be uploading new chapters for this as soon as they are done, since the deadline for the contest is September 9th. Hopefully, I can make it!

Thank you for all the comments, alerts, and favorites so far - it is very encouraging. And again, any and all feedback is very welcome!

**Prompt:** Iris by The Goo Goo Dolls/ Kakashi's POV  
**Word Count: **1658  
**Warnings: **possible spoilers through chapter 636

A special thank you to my impromptu sort-of-beta,** Naeryna**! She has not seen the written chapters - so any mistakes you see are mine! - but she helped talk me through my outline to make sure I wasn't working some plot-hole-no-jutsu.

**Disclaimer: **Naruto belongs to Kishimoto. I am merely playing in the sandbox he has created. I am most definitely not receiving any monetary compensation for my child's play.

* * *

**ooOoo**

_When everything's made to be broken  
I just want you to know who I am_

– **The Goo Goo Dolls –**

**ooOoo  
**

* * *

The passage of time had become meaningless to him.

His last memory of the waking world was not an encouraging one, his victory soured by circumstances beyond his control.

Kakashi had finally neutralized the threat he had tasked himself to, inflicting a mortal wound on yet another one of his former teammates. Guilt tried to creep in, curling itself in his belly, but thoughts of the village – _always for the good of the village_ – kept it from sinking in too deeply.

_One less opponent for those kids to face. _

Relief settled in his bones as he made mental preparations for the trip back. His kamui was imperfect and would be of no help on its own. Seeing Obito in battle, Kakashi had understood. It was a technique that required both eyes to be used to its full potential. The left eye banished foreign matter to the alternate dimension, while the right allowed the user to transport themselves, and whatever they were touching, to and from that place. He'd need the other eye, or his former friend's cooperation, to accomplish the task.

Kakashi hoped for the later.

His approach, with his kunai visibly brandished, was interrupted by the warping of space around his target and Kakashi's reflexes were sluggish from his previous exertions.

He didn't reach Obito in time.

_Kakashi was trapped._

He sat down with a deep sigh, leaning his back against one of the white boxes that filled the strange realm, and started to take inventory of his supplies.

And then his world went black.

**ooOoo**

_Disconcerting_.

If Kakashi had to describe his predicament, that would be the word. His body was completely unresponsive. He imagined that his condition was similar to that of a coma patient, except that he still had all of his mental faculties. The shinobi was fairly certain his state was due to a jutsu. Sure, he was wounded and the injuries were severe enough to warrant some medical attention, but he had survived much worse. Unfortunately, without knowing what he had fallen prey to, he had no way to reverse it.

Kakashi decided he would systematically work through all the possibilities.

After all, he had nothing but time.

**ooOoo**

Being trapped in the shadows of his mind started to unravel Kakashi, bit by bit.

He was sure he'd been left to rot for months now, but his body still remained unaccountably untouched by the decomposition that would have occurred had he been dead. The man could feel every inch of his frame – _each muscle, bone, and injury_ – even if he could not control it. Every second that ticked by brought no change, leaving him in the exact condition, the very position even, that he had been in when everything went dark. Even the blood remained damp where it had seeped into his clothing.

Kakashi was frozen in time.

All except for his spirit.

Complicated jutsu and conspiracy theories roiled about in his brain. His original plan was to be organized, to work things through logically, but the longer the he was plunged into the black, the more chaotic his thought process became. Fragments of ideas flitted across his consciousness at random and he would follow them into dead ends of obscurity, until all was jumbled and nonsensical.

Sometimes it would overwhelm to the point that he would give up, wondering if he had, in fact, died and all this was just some form of hell.

But then the man would hear the memory of their voices – _his_ _team_ _calling out to him_ – and he would gather his wits.

**ooOoo**

Kakashi was sure that the kamui had something to do with it.

In sifting through his memories, he had uncovered an intriguing detail. A rush of chakra had seeped out of him when the veil of emptiness descended. But as he studied it, that moment, he realized it wasn't just his body effected. Even the air around him had stilled, like the whole world was holding its breath.

For the first time since he'd been trapped, Kakashi felt a glimmer of hope.

The implications of his discovery focused his mind. The most probable explanation was that Obito had been killed. If the kamui worked like he thought, as an interdependent pair, then perhaps total disconnection on the other end is what caused this strange state. The death of his friend, warped as he had become, would be a great boon for the war efforts.

And Kakashi knew that no one would leave a sharigan to perish. It was only a matter of time before someone used it to their advantage. He prayed that it was someone from the allied forces.

But regardless of who was at the other end, Kakashi would be ready.

_All he had to do was wait._

**ooOoo**

A conversation he had with Naruto, during a brief lull in hostilities, came to his remembrance and refused to leave him alone.

The boy had encountered Itachi, revived by the Edo Tensei, and gained an unexpected ally. Naruto had been animated in his retelling, drawing a respectable crowd around the campfire at the united base, as he explained the forethought of the Uchiha genius. Naruto spoke of how the shinobi had implanted a jutsu within him, months prior to the confrontation, and how that jutsu had turned the tides.

Itachi's own technique, originally meant for Sasuke, had released him from Kabuto's control. And the idea, the premise, behind the event was exceedingly simple.

_He had used one sharigan to speak to another._

Kakashi mulled that over and began to formulate a plan.

**ooOoo**

Kakashi felt it, like being covered with a soft blanket of energy, the instant the other eye was reconnected to a chakra network. The air shifted around him, no longer still and stagnant. The dimension began to live again.

_But he was still petrified, a fixed object in a moving world._

Dread filled his heart as he realized that his hypothesis was incorrect. He might have been stuck in this place because of the kamui, but it was not responsible for his stasis. All his carefully drawn-up plans were for naught.

Kakashi pushed aside the panic that threatened to consume and summoned all his mental fortitude. Images of hand signs and chakra manipulation came to the forefront of his thoughts and he concentrated on willing them into existence. Perhaps, it could still work. The eyes were a matched pair, after all. All he had to do was make a connection.

If there was a chance, no matter how minute, he had to try.

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A kaleidoscope of color and sound bombarded his senses, flashes of yellow and pink and familiar voices. Kakashi winced. The sensory overload was hard to bear after his prolonged exposure to the absence of everything. His eyes shut, blocking out the blurs of tinted light until he regained his equilibrium, and he considered the conversation whirling around him.

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"_But we have the other eye. Can't we at least-"_

"_At least, what? Implant the eye in someone else? Attempt a rescue? Do you know how long that will take? The recovery time? The training time?  
I'm not going to approve that just to retrieve a body."_

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As the shinobi listened in, he became convinced that he knew the people speaking.

And what was more, Kakashi was fairly certain that they were speaking about him. The subject matter was too much of a coincidence.

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"_Please, don't ask me to give up."_

"_I have to."_

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Adrenaline kicked in, putting all his nerves on edge and setting his heart to beat at double-time. Relief was so tangible that he could taste it on his tongue, feel it in his pores. The fates were on his side.

It was Sakura and Tsunade.

Then the silence returned, grating and oppressive, and worry trickled in. Kakashi opened his eyes to finally take in his surroundings. The brightness had dimmed to a gentle rose, illuminating a single bed in a severe, clinical setting. He immediately recognized the space as the surgery room in Konoha's hospital. Sakura was prone on the bed, her breathing heavy with deep sleep. The hokage was nowhere to be found.

The change of scene was disquieting, but not unexpected. Kakashi was aware going in that it was most likely that he would be linking to another's subconscious. The previous event must have been a dream or a memory.

_He was in Sakura's head._

The man shook his head. He was grateful, more than he could express, that his rescue was nigh. But he was afraid to see what it cost.

_Because Tsunade would only give her the eye if Sakura had lost her own._

He approached her bedside, reclining in the hard folding chair, and took her hand in his. There were a few minor wounds visible – a skinned elbow, scraped and bruised knuckles, a thin red line behind her ear – but otherwise, she looked unscathed. Kakashi wasn't sure whether this was a reflection of her real injuries, but he hoped they were no worse in reality. Pushing the hair off of her forehead, he called to her.

"Sakura?"

The girl shifted slightly and whimpered, but did not wake. Kakashi leaned over her, elbows resting on the mattress. Her brows wrinkled as she fought for consciousness. Upon closer inspection, he could see that she had been crying. If he had been correct about the dialogue he had arrived to, her tears had been for him.

"Don't give up." Kakashi rubbed her cheek softly and smirked underneath his mask. "Get off your ass and get me out of here."

"Kakashi?"

Her eyes blinked open, utter confusion parting her lips. He had barely processed her shocked, squeezing her hand in reassurance, when she disappeared.

Left alone in the dark once again, Kakashi dropped to his knees.

_Her right eye was Uchiha black._


	3. Obstruction

**Author's Note: **This chapter is a pretty short one. Sorry... It was the best place to leave off plot-wise to fit the prompt. Let me know what you think.

Also, this will probably be the last update until Monday. I've got kids, so the weekends get a bit crazy for me.

**Prompt:** Lost in Paradise by Evanescence/ Either POV  
**Word Count: **829  
**Warnings: **some language, possible spoilers through chapter 636

A special thank you to my impromptu sort-of-beta,** Naeryna**! She has not seen the written chapters - so any mistakes you see are mine! - but she helped talk me through my outline to make sure I wasn't working some plot-hole-no-jutsu.

**Disclaimer: **Naruto belongs to Kishimoto. I am merely playing in the sandbox he has created. I am most definitely not receiving any monetary compensation for my child's play.

* * *

**ooOoo**

_I have nothing left  
And all I feel is this cruel wanting_

**- Evanescence – **

**ooOoo**

* * *

It had worked, or at least it had seemed to.

Pain trickled up his legs, like a multitude of tiny needle pokes. He had been on his knees for a long time, the man realized, motionless in the shock of his success. Kakashi shifted back, pulling his limbs forward to unwind and stretch, and sat on his rump.

Sakura had seen him, however fleetingly, and had responded. His name had fallen from her lips while her face reflected a myriad of expressions. Shock, surprise, recognition, happiness – they had all been there, written as plainly as ink on parchment. The image she presented, whether due to his lack of stimulus or her natural beauty, was the most welcome sight he had ever seen.

_And it was all too brief_.

Kakashi wasn't completely sure what had broken their connection. It could have been any number of things, from Sakura's state of shock to an unsteady flow of chakra. But his preeminent theory was that she had simply woken up, breaking the link between their subconscious minds. They were exploring new territory and with that came some uncertainty, but he believed that he had reached her in her sleep when her mind's defenses were down.

In addition, there was the difference in the flow of chakra to consider. From the instant it returned and throughout the encounter, he could feel it move back and forth in waves. There had been a reciprocity in the movement, a balance that had swirled about his mind with a soothing warmth. But now it felt blocked, like a river flowing into a dam. Kakashi hoped to feel the return of the current soon so he could try to reach her again.

The man was tired of being alone tired.

_The darkness had crept back in._

And dammit, he just wanted to see a friendly face - _any face_ - other than his own.

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_He wanted to see her._

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**ooOoo**

"My answer hasn't changed."

"I know what I saw," Sakura insisted, squaring her shoulders and digging in for a fight. Her hands tightened around the flimsy material of her hospital gown. With a stubborn uplift of her chin, the girl faced her mentor. "It was _him_."

"Sakura," the woman admonished with a fed up scowl, "it was just a dream. A combination of the trauma of the incident and the lingering effects of the anesthesia. You of all people should know this."

"And that's why you should believe me! I know the difference!" Sakura's chest heaved as volume filled her voice, rising and crashing with her frustration. "This isn't post traumatic stress and this isn't a drug induced fancy. It was him, Shishou. It was Kakashi!"

"It's been over a year!" Tsunade fist shook the frame of her desk. "Why can't you let him go?"

The air fled from Sakura's lungs. Weakness entered her legs making them unsteady and she suddenly felt very vulnerable, exposed. She lifted her gaze, taking in the sympathy wrapped in fiery gold, and was honest. "I don't know."

The Hokage stood, her heeled shoes breaking the silence with a clipped rhythm, and made her way to her protégé. Her hands, warm and calloused, gently gripped Sakura by her shoulders. After a few short seconds of searching the girl's eyes - _her face, her expression_ – for an unnamed something, the blonde cleared her throat. "There'll be time to talk about this later. I'm ordering you to two full days of bed rest. Is that clear, Sakura?"

"Yes, Shishou. But…" The girl paused, watching a blonde brow raise in warning. After a breath to gather her resolve, Sakura plowed ahead. "I already have the eye and I need to learn how to use it no matter what. Please… just don't make a final decision yet. Let me show you that I'm capable."

"I'll take it under consideration. _If_ you get back in your bed and stay there."

The girl allowed herself to be lead back to her room. Tsunade saw to her personally, checking all her vitals and adjusting her medications. And, Sakura realized with a smile, the woman must have felt a twinge of guilt because she even fluffed the pillows.

Settling back as she was ordered to, the heaviness of fatigue overcame her. Her Shishou had been right in one respect. Her body needed the repose. Sakura found Tsunade's hand where it was pressing into her bed, the woman bracing herself on it as she fiddled with various monitors, and gave it a light squeeze. "Thank you, Shishou."

And then she drifted off, lost to the darkness.

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"_Kakashi?"_

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"_Where the hell are you?"_

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"_Stupid, lazy-ass Sensei."_


	4. The Beholder

**Author's Note: **It doesn't look like I'll be able to finish this in time for the contest, though I'm still going to try. Seven chapters in one night is going to be a bit of a stretch. But even if I don't get it done in time, I'll still be posting as quickly as possible. And, as always, feedback would be awesome!

**Prompt:** Born To Be My Baby by Bon Jovi/ Kakashi's POV  
**Word Count: **1704  
**Warnings: **some language, possible spoilers up to chapter 636

A special thank you to my impromptu sort-of-beta,** Naeryna**! She has not seen the written chapters - so any mistakes you see are mine! - but she helped talk me through my outline to make sure I wasn't working some plot-hole-no-jutsu.

**Disclaimer: **Naruto belongs to Kishimoto. I am merely playing in the sandbox he has created. I am most definitely not receiving any monetary compensation for my child's play.

* * *

**ooOoo**

_We got something to believe in  
Even if we don't know where we stand _

**- Bon Jovi –**

**ooOoo**

* * *

Kakashi caught her wrist, reflexes sharp and swift, just before her fingers curled around the fabric of his mask. The rhythm of the energy around him had changed, alerting him to her coming presence. He'd seen her arrive through his sleep hooded eyes, a vision of pink to break up his monotony. There was no backdrop this time, no room or furnishings. Just Sakura and her own radiant glow.

In the darkness, only just held at bay by the light she brought in with her, the girl'd had trouble spotting him. Amused, Kakashi had let her search. It was probably not the wisest of ideas considering her abrupt departure during their last meeting, but his brain was screaming for some entertainment.

And watching Sakura figure out a puzzle had always been entertaining.

Hearing her curse, a softly spoken admonishment directed towards his tendency against work, the man knew she had finally spotted him. The kunoichi crept stealthily his direction, but his sharpened senses picked up every footfall, every shift of clothing, and every breath that escaped her lips. Really, Kakashi was proud. Her skills had greatly improved since last he worked with her.

But it wasn't enough to take him unaware.

"Sakura, it's not appropriate to be so forward with your sensei."

"Dammit, Kakashi," the girl huffed, "you can't even let me beat you in my own head." Sakura paused to put her hands on her hips, hovering over him menacingly. "And you're not my sensei anymore."

"I know." Kakashi grinned through his mask. "And technically, we're in both our heads."

She shot him a glare, her mismatched eyes narrowing, but held her tongue. After a few moments of deliberation, Sakura sighed and sat down next to him. "So, do you always keep it so dark around here?"

"I don't have any control over it," he answered, his drawl tinted with displeasure.

Sakura cocked her head in his direction, confusion drawing faint lines on her forehead. "I don't understand."

"I'm not just stuck in the other dimension. I'm trapped in my own body."

"You're going to have to give me more of an explanation, you know."

"Yeah," the man rubbed the back of his head in frustrated acknowledgement. Sakura rolled her eyes and motioned for him to continue, her hands making spastic circles in the air. "I'm in a coma. Or something like it. My mind is here and functioning fine. But my body is in the exact condition it was when Obito left. I can't wake up, can't move. Hell, even in here I can't see or hear anything but myself."

"Kakashi," she started, her face an expression somewhere between horror and shock, "has it really been like this the whole time you've been here?"

"Yeah. Until you showed up."

Sakura leaned forward, resting her forehead on her knees. Her hair, somewhat longer than he remembered, spread around her like a veil, concealing her reaction. After a few minutes, the girl raised her head and regarded him carefully. "It's a miracle you haven't gone crazy."

He shook his head, wondering if she had any idea how close he'd come. "I know."

The manner in which she studied him for the remainder of her time there made he believe that she knew.

_Her gaze pierced, like she could see the freshly mended cracks on his psyche._

**ooOoo**

"You've been sealed." Sakura delivered her verdict with brusque confidence, her arms crossed over her chest. "I spent all day going through medical journals and healing textbooks. It's the only explanation. Even in a coma your subconscious should have been able to create something here, like dreams or physical manifestations of your memories. What is happening to you just isn't natural."

"I already had that much figured out." Kakashi chuckled softly as he watched her deflate.

"And you're just sharing that now?" The girl went red. Whether it was with anger, embarrassment, or a combination of the two, he couldn't tell, but he enjoyed seeing her riled up.

_Anything to break up the never-ending peace._

Sakura continued his chastisement, oblivious to the pleasure her tirade was eliciting. "Why didn't you say something yesterday? It would have saved me… Wait, what's wrong?"

Kakashi had gone from amused to contemplative in an instant.

_Yesterday._

Time had been given back its meaning.

His mouth went dry and his breath quickened. "Yesterday?"

"Yeah?"

"So," he rolled the word around his tongue, drawing it out, "it's been a day since I last saw you?"

"Yes, a day." He could see medic in her begin to take inventory of his reactions as she spoke, worry lifting the pitch of her voice. "How long did _you_ think it was?"

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"_I couldn't tell."_

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He watched her crumble, bit by bit, as the reality of his response began to sink in. The trembling began in her hands, which she quickly balled into tight fists in an effort to hide it. But it was a losing battle and soon her whole body reverberated with sympathetic anguish. Her fingers tightened around his open vest and pulled him close, burying her head in his chest. Kakashi could feel her tears dampen his undershirt as she struggled to control her sobbing. He gathered her close to him, wrapping his long limbs around her slight frame, and let her cry for him. When her outburst subsided, he kept her in his arms.

"Sakura, how long have I been here?"

The girl raised her head, red eyes and mussed hair, and choked out an answer. "Fourteen months."

Kakashi had to force his knees not to buckle under the weight of that revelation. He drew her in even tighter, one arm around the small of her back and the other around her shoulders, clinging to her like an anchor. His forehead fell to rest near her clavicle as his mind scrambled to make sense of what she said.

He'd been trapped even longer than he had imagined.

"But don't worry, Sensei," she crooned as she rubbed soothing circles into his back. "I'll be here every day from now on."

**ooOoo**

"You look tired," Kakashi remarked drily.

And she did. Her stature was slightly bowed, her movements lethargic and strained. Eyes that normally were backlit with life and passion were dull. The pink strands of her hair hung listlessly about her face, the normal luster faded. Her appearance had been gradually flagging over the course of the past week. He did not like it.

The girl merely waved him off. "Very funny, Sensei."

"It wasn't a joke."

"Are you sure?" she quipped somewhat defensively. "Because you do realize that I'm sleeping right now, don't you?"

Kakashi gazed over at her, shrewdly observant. "Maybe your body is."

"And what's _that_ supposed to mean?" Hands went to rest on her hips while angry color started to trail up her neck.

"You're the medic. Shouldn't you already know?"

Livid red infused her entire countenance. "What in the hell are you talking about?"

"When's the last time you gave your mind some downtime?"

"My mind gets plenty of-"

"I appreciate the gesture," the man interrupted, "but you don't have to come here every night."

Her voice took on a stubborn edge as lids closed over enraged eyes. "_Fine_."

"What are you-"

"Shut up and let me concentrate, dammit!"

The air around them shifted, swirling in eddies of muted color, as Sakura kept her eyes tightly shut. Piece by piece, her creation settled into place – a set of dresser drawers, a desk with a cushioned, rolling chair, knick-knacks and pictures, and a large bed with a multitude of pillows. Exhaling deeply, the girl pounced on the bed, arranging pillows and blankets to her comfort before turning her attention back to her companion.

"Look, you were right, okay? I haven't been going through all three stages of my NREM sleep cycle lately. But I'm not leaving you here by yourself, so you can just shove your arguments up your ass for all I care."

Kakashi raised an eyebrow at her language, burrowing his hands into his pockets. "I see."

"Good." Sakura rolled over on her back and patted the opposite side of the mattress. "Now come talk to me until I fall '_asleep_'. And don't you dare say you're fine over there when I know you haven't laid on a mattress in ages."

"Sakura."

"_Kakashi_."

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After an intense staring battle, which he lost horribly, Kakashi finally submitted to her request. He arranged himself carefully on top of the bed covers, making sure that none of his body was touching any part of hers, and folded his hands over his heart.

At a loss for words, he kept silent. Sakura didn't say anything either and whether it was because of her fatigue or some other reason, he was glad. Because the man could feel the heat radiate off her body, could hear the exhale of her breath, and could smell the light musk of her skin. Kakashi was suddenly highly aware that she was a woman, desirable and very much of age, laying vulnerable in a bed with him.

And he was a man, dangerous and desiring, long deprived the solace of human contact.

Next time, Kakashi would have better control over his wayward thoughts. By tomorrow, he would have had the time to work through this strange development and see her as he always did. This surge of attraction would give way to the relationship they have always had, of teacher and student and nothing more, and he would regain his equilibrium. But for now the assault on his senses was too much.

_Talking was the last thing on his mind._

He was grateful when he heard her breathing even out and deepen, signaling her move into slow-wave sleep. The temptation had passed.

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But the man later wondered why he could still feel the heat of her skin, soaked into his own, even after she disappeared to the waking world.


	5. Magnify

**Author's Note: **Still plucking away at this. We'll see if I get it done before I fall asleep... Thanks for all the comments cheering me on - you guys are the best! Also, this is a very rough draft, since I'm trying to just get this beast done in time for the contest. I'll be going back over it tomorrow for some polishing.

**Prompt:** I'd Do Anything for Love (But I Won't Do That) - Meat Loaf (Whomever's P.O.V)  
**Word Count: **1240  
**Warnings: **possible spoilers for up to chapter 636

A special thank you to my impromptu sort-of-beta,** Naeryna**! She has not seen the written chapters - so any mistakes you see are mine! - but she helped talk me through my outline to make sure I wasn't working some plot-hole-no-jutsu.

**Disclaimer: **Naruto belongs to Kishimoto. I am merely playing in the sandbox he has created. I am most definitely not receiving any monetary compensation for my child's play.

* * *

**ooOoo**

_Maybe I'm crazy, but it's crazy and it's true  
I know you can save me, no one else can save me now but you_  
**- Meat Loaf –**

**ooOoo**

* * *

"Out of curiosity, how have you been finding your way here?" Kakashi reclined in her chair, his only visible brow raised. "I was prepared to bring you here again, but that obviously wasn't needed."

After the war ended, Sakura fought nightly bouts with insomnia. It wasn't surprising, not really. Many good shinobi, veteran shinobi, were afflicted by the same thing. For some, being on guard for so long made it difficult to shut down, to let down their defenses long enough to get proper rest. Others dealt with insecurities and fear, unable to feel safe even in the security of their own homes. Nightmares plagued almost all, vibrant reproductions of devastation and cruelty.

The kunoichi had seen her fair share of horrors. She had sent her chakra, healing torn flesh and shattered bone, through a countless number of allies. And when her levels began to run low, Sakura had relied on more visceral tools of her trade, sewing up skin and cutting out shrapnel. Not everyone she worked on made it off the battlefield. Countless more never even made it into her care. The scent of death had filled her nostrils, her duty making it inescapable.

In a time of peace, she dreamed in the red that had stained her hands.

It ceased to be a problem of late, though. Merely a fortnight had passed since discovering Kakashi's true circumstance before her body developed a new habit. Sleep became easy to find, the pull of warm chakra and the ease of a validated mind lulling her into peaceful rest.

Truly, it was a simple thing to figure out. After that initial encounter, Sakura had worried that she would be unable to get back to him, unsure of how the link had formed in the first place. The girl holed herself up in the library against her medic's wishes, looking through ancient, dusty tomes for information – _theories, clues, or even vague hints _- that would give her the ability to replicate their meeting. Desperation filled her heart when nothing turned up. She went to bed angry, nursing a migraine, and waited for the post-surgery painkillers to kick in.

And when she finally nodded off, Sakura could feel it. All she had to do was follow the flow of chakra. A person with less awareness, unperceptive to the nuances of the energies that the body houses, would have surely missed it. But not Sakura. It was like a string stretched out between them, her and her former sensei, brightly colored and unmistakable.

_They were connected._

"You like to underestimate me, don't you?" the girl quipped.

Kakashi hung his head, shifting uncomfortably in the swiveling chair. His only answer was a remorseful sigh, barely audible through the dark fabric of his mask.

Sakura let a sly smile spread across her lips. "I'm known for my chakra control, aren't I?"

The girl flipped over in the bed, placing her back in his line of sight, and pretended to slip into her deeper state of sleep. But she could feel his gaze on her for the rest of the night, so her pretense remained just that.

_And she wondered why her heart refused to beat out its regular rhythm._

**ooOoo**

After another week, impatience started to worm its way in. Kakashi could feel her bristle with it as she paced the room with an anxious energy. Sakura was ready to train.

"You need to rest."

"I can't," she replied with a dismissive air. "There's too much to do."

"Sakura."

When she refused to answer, Kakashi rose from his seat on the bed and placed himself directly in her path. The girl scowled and moved to sidestep him, but he followed. The actions repeated several more times, a dance of determination between two stubborn souls, before Sakura crossed her arms and gave him her undivided, anger-laced attention.

A hand, with strong masculine lines, raised to touch her cheek. Kakashi felt some trepidation, both from the intimate nature of the gesture and the possible reaction of the kunoichi, but it was camouflaged by the steadiness of the motion. The man watched her eyes widen in surprise, but the sharp set of her chin softened and so he continued. Fingertips explored the smooth expanse of her skin, trailing up her fine bone structure to rest above the darker of her two eyes.

"Has it healed properly?"

She exhaled, slow and shuddering. "Yeah. Yeah, it has."

"Then lay down and get some rest." His thumb brushed across her beautiful blush. "You can talk to Tsunade tomorrow."

"Okay," Sakura answered, placing her hand on top of his. "Will you stay with me?"

The shinobi nodded in agreement, despite promising not to put himself in anymore compromising situations. Last time, sharing her bed had almost been the end of him. But he would be stronger this time. Kakashi knew what he was getting into now and could cut off the unwanted thoughts and feelings before they took root. It would be fine.

So the man waited until she was tucked in, comfortable and covered by her thick quilt, then laid down beside her. Sakura rolled on her side, facing him with a shy smile, and took one of her hands in his. It surprised him, ruffling his inner composure, but he did not pull away.

And when Sakura curled into him during her sleep, her warm breath washing over his neck and soft body pressing against his, Kakashi realized he had absolutely no idea what he was getting into.

**ooOoo**

Sakura was bubbling over with excitement the next night. She rushed him, her slender limbs closing around his middle, with such force that they ended up in a tangle on the ground. Kakashi rubbed the back of his head, smarting with the impact that he had borne for the both of them, and tried to make sense of her ramblings.

"Start over," the man groaned. "And slow down."

"Shishou finally cleared me for training." She hovered over him, beaming. "With some luck, I might be able to get you out of here soon."

Everything stopped for a still, small moment while he tried to catch his breath. The prospect of finally, _finally_, returning to his own dimension left him speechless. He had gotten so immersed in their routine that he almost forgot that it wasn't real. At least, not in any sense that actually mattered.

Then Kakashi, still sprawled out and half-reclined, looked up. She was so close. Her lips drew his gaze, near enough to his own that they were breathing the very same air. The heat of her body was seeping into his own, filling his skin and branding his bones. And he was once again reminded of just how feminine Sakura truly was.

_Of how he wanted her._

He dragged one hand slowly up her forearm, past her shoulder, to rest on the curve of her neck. There was no resistance when he drew her down - _down, down, down_ – into his embrace and curled his fingers into her hair. But he couldn't do it, couldn't take advantage of her emotions, her innocence, like that. So just before he tasted her lips, Kakashi tilted his head and left his mark on her brow instead.

"You won't need luck, Sakura," he whispered in her ear.

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"You'll manage it all on your own."


	6. Distortion

**Author's Note: **I meant to get this one out last night, but every time I thought I was done, my brain said there was more to write. So this chapter ended up being double the size I originally expected it to be. The contest is over now anyway - what I had posted (chapters 1-5) was accepted and I got second place! - so I don't feel so pressured for time. I still plan to update quickly though - probably a chapter a weekday until all eleven chapters are posted. Thanks for sticking with me - I appreciate all the feedback!

**Prompt:** Think Of You - A Fine Frenzy (Sakura's P.O.V)  
**Word Count: **2694  
**Warnings: **some language, possible spoilers up to chapter 636

A special thank you to my impromptu sort-of-beta,** Naeryna**! She has not seen the written chapters - so any mistakes you see are mine! - but she helped talk me through my outline to make sure I wasn't working some plot-hole-no-jutsu.

**Disclaimer: **Naruto belongs to Kishimoto. I am merely playing in the sandbox he has created. I am most definitely not receiving any monetary compensation for my child's play.

* * *

**ooOoo**

_And you rest your bones  
Somewhere far from my house  
Yeah, but you still pull me home_

**- A Fine Frenzy –**

**ooOoo**

* * *

With Lady Tsunade's permission, Sakura headed out to the new Uchiha compound bright and early the next morning. The frigid air burned her lungs and the frost-covered surfaces made it difficult to keep a steady pace, but the girl did not care. There were a couple hours' worth of travelling ahead of her and she was not going to spend that time bemoaning her misfortunes. That was energy wasted that could be put to better use, like learning how to use her newly acquired sharigan.

Sasuke, along with his cohorts, had settled far outside of Konoha's walls. While he no longer fostered deep animosity towards the village, the man had no desire to return to it. Instead, he chose to start anew, shifting his focus from the destruction of those who had wronged him to the rebuilding his clan. And while the Uchiha maintained a civil affiliation with the United Shinobi Alliance, he was his own entity.

Sakura thought that it was probably the best for all involved.

_Some hurts took too long to heal._

As the cold continued to nip at her extremities, a spattering of frozen precipitation began to fall from its perch in the heavens. A gentle hush descended over the landscape along with the snow, the low-lying clouds blanketing the sky in silver. In the quiet, pensive thoughts and queries sang loudly through her mind, demanding her attention.

There had been a moment the previous night, just a small frame of time, in which the girl had been certain that Kakashi was going to kiss her. Of course, she'd not been in that situation before outside of Lee's amorous advances, so Sakura had no experiences to compare it to. But instincts, honed by reading opponents in battle, told her what her naïvety could not. She just wasn't sure if she believed them in this particular case. Instead she tried to convince herself that maybe, _maybe_, she was just reading too much into his actions, that it was beyond arrogance to think that he could be attracted to her.

But the idea persisted.

It wasn't that Sakura was turned off or disgusted by the concept. On the contrary, she understood that by objective standards Kakashi was a very handsome and desirable man. But the fact of the matter was that she had been so wrapped up in her ill-fated feelings for Sasuke that she had never even thought of anyone else in a romantic fashion. Especially not a man who was several years older than her and her former sensei. The idea of it, of kisses and confessions and love, with anyone besides the Uchiha was a completely foreign concept for her. It honestly confused the hell out of her.

_But the most perplexing thing was that she hadn't even resisted._

The forest began to thin, bare branches giving way to open space, and the girl could see her destination rising in the distance. She lent some chakra to her soles, trying for more traction on the frost-slickened ground, and doubled the cadence of her steps.

She had no more time for silly theories.

_Her goal was within her grasp._

**ooOoo**

"Annoying."

"What. Did you. Just. Say?" Her voice lowered to a near growl, sharp with building wrath.

"You heard me. I said that you're still annoying." Sasuke scoffed, crossing his arms. "And apparently, you've gone deaf, too."

Sakura took a swing at him, swift and hard and full of all her frustrations, but he deftly dodged it. Unable to slow her momentum, her fist slammed into an ancient elm. She hadn't put enough chakra into her fist to smash the dense trunk, expecting instead to contact soft flesh, and the result was the lodging of her hand inside the tree. While she worked to extricate herself, Sasuke circled.

"It's not enough, Sakura," he taunted. "It's not nearly enough to activate a sharigan."

"Then tell me what to do, dammit!"

"I already have," he replied over his shoulder, leaving her to pry the splinters from her hand in solitude.

**ooOoo**

Sakura was still fuming when she met up with Kakashi that night. She contemplated summoning bricks or wooden posts – _something,_ _anything_ - for her to smash, but decided to pace the floor instead. A calming influence was what she needed to prepare her mind for the events of the following day so that she could be rested and ready to try again. Figuring complete exhaustion would do the trick, the girl worked a serpentine path around the replica of her bedroom, quickening her stride to achieve the state with less repetition. Allowing herself to give in to the violent part of her nature would be counterproductive to her pursuits.

"So," Kakashi spoke from his seat at the desk, watching her injured hand with one wary eye, "how was your first day?"

Her feet stomped a little harder into the floor, her jaw clenching tightly. She knew that this question was coming. It was the reason, after all, that she had been so ecstatic the previous night. Kakashi had seen firsthand how much she wanted it, so of course he would ask. But it didn't make her ire any less. She spat out her answer, the words bitter on her tongue. "I hate Sasuke Uchiha."

"That's not what you used to say."

His response grated at her already raw nerves. The kunoichi stopped in front of her companion, gripped the arms of his chair, and smiled insanely wide. "If you value your life, old man, you may want to keep comments like that to yourself."

Kakashi raised his hands, a gesture meant to placate, and remained silent. Sakura, after she felt she had glared for a sufficient length of time to get her point across, turned on her heel and resumed her wrathful march. And somewhere deep, deep down, she was relieved that he'd backed down with so little resistance.

_Because anger always came so easy to her._

The last thing she wanted just then was for him to challenge her, to call her out on her crap. She didn't want him to look inside and see the scared little girl that lurked – _always there, always a part of her_ – just under the surface. Because she didn't hate Sasuke, not really. And she didn't blame him for the events of the day.

_Sakura knew that the breakdown was her. _

Failure tore at her heart, ripping open old wounds to bleed out new insecurities, and she didn't want him to see it. Kakashi finally believed in her, trusted her to get him the hell out of his prison. Above all else, regardless of the confusion he had thrown her into, his faith in her was what she wanted. The rest was inconsequential.

So Sakura covered herself, her flaws, in a cloak of combative emotion and hoped he wouldn't look too close and see the tears in the seams.

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The red seeped through, enveloping her and taking charge, and there was no more room for anything else but denial.

**ooOoo**

Intense heat, focused and deadly, ran past the right side of her body, leaving behind the bitter scent of scorched hair. The skin on her forearm tingled unpleasantly, mottled pink and hairless. The kunoichi leapt, pushing energy to her soles, in an attempt to gain some distance while she formed a plan of attack. But her opponent had the advantage, in both natural ability and knowledge of the terrain, and refused to give her any ground.

Sakura paused her flight abruptly, crouching and spinning, and grabbed his arm as he passed, using the change in direction and the man's own momentum against him. With a knee to his abdomen and a kunai at his jugular, she held him down. But just as the triumph curled the corners of her mouth, her quarry dissipated in a whirl of grey smoke.

Recognition of the jutsu – _shadow clones, always damn shadow clones_ – was interrupted by a sudden change in her predicament. It happened with such rapidity that she didn't even take notice until the bark was digging into her back, scraping at her bare shoulders, and the hand at her throat tightened. Red and black filled her vision.

"You're thinking too much," Sasuke whispered, removing his hand from her neck. Fingertips trailed down, lightly skimming exposed skin, until they found a firm grip around her biceps. He took a half step forward, pressing her securely between hard muscle and unyielding timber, and breathed harshly into her ear. "It's not about technique. Intense emotion, the kind that swallows you whole, that forces you to _drown_ in it, is the only way to activate the sharigan."

The Uchiha relinquished his hold on her, calm and collected, and moved a couple paces back. His eyes surveyed her with methodical dispassion until he reached a verdict.

"And what you have, Sakura, is not enough."

It wasn't until he had disappeared between the trees that the girl realized that she'd been holding her breath, her head swimming with a sudden bout of vertigo. The resulting inhalation, deep and long, burned her chest and her knees threatened to give out. But Sakura stood her ground, fighting against the faintness, and willed her pulse to normalize.

One of her old fantasies, a silly musing of girlish hope, had just played out in real life, vivid and irrefutable. That long-lost part of her wanted to be giddy, to squeal with feminine joy, but Sakura couldn't create something from nothing. Because her only thought was that it didn't feel like she thought it would.

_He_ didn't feel she thought he would.

It shouldn't have bothered her – _shouldn't have even mattered because she had given up on Sasuke long ago, back when he intended to slice her heart out to the melody of crackling electricity_ – but it did.

And she couldn't help but wonder why the heat, the warmth that his body exuded as he held her close, just wasn't enough to sink into her bones.

**ooOoo**

The girl entered their shared dream world deflated. She forewent the frantic, wrathful pacing of the past few nights in favor of suffocation by feathers, burying herself deeply into the various coverings and adornments of her bed. Sakura was in no mood to face the quizzical stares of her perceptive companion. Nor could she handle more interactions with weird, possibly romantic, subtext. Her brain refused to deal with any of it, already overloaded. She would have just stayed in her own head for the evening, if she had any confidence that Kakashi would leave her there. But in rejecting that option – _because she was sure that worry would send him to find her_ – Sakura went with the next best thing.

She would hide in plain sight.

The sounds of creaking and rolling, muffled through the layers over her head, filtered down to her shinobi-trained ears and she knew that he had repositioned her desk chair – _his chair_ – next to her. Sakura closed her eyes, even though he couldn't see her face, and feigned sleep. Avoidance was the goal and she was committed to it.

"Have I ever told you about when Gai, Asuma, and I were women?"

Sakura groaned in frustration.

_Damn her sensei and his unconventional tactics. _

Now she was curious, but hell if she was going to let him know that. She bit out a bitter reply, "When have you ever told me anything, Sensei?"

Silence filled the room for several tense minutes. Regret turned her heart to lead, cold and heavy, and plunged it to the depths of her gut. The nauseated feeling grew in the absence of his voice, sharpened by her own harsh breathing. The ache was more than the girl could take, her lips parting to offer an apology - _to take it back –_ when he finally spoke.

"You're right."

Sakura rolled over, drawn to the sensitive tenor in his voice, and removed the tiers of fluff from her line of sight. He was hunched over, elbows on knees and forehead on clasped hands, crestfallen. His breathing was shallow, out of sync with what she had learned was its normal modulation, and she had the fleeting thought that he was crying. She did not like it.

The girl cleared her throat quietly, seeking his attention, and he raised his head. Her initial reaction was relief when she saw the absence of saline on his cheeks, but what was there troubled her even more. His face, what little was exposed, was etched with taut lines of emotion. Self-reproach was embedded deeply in his gaze, dense and smothering. Her heart shuddered.

"Maybe," she carefully replied, keeping her eyes locked on his, "but I shouldn't have said it."

Kakashi studied her face, her expression, with searching eyes and then leaned back with a sigh. He waited a few seconds more, his attention still fully on her. "Okay."

"Yeah?"

The man rubbed the back of his head, a familiar, comforting gesture, and relaxed into his seat. "Yeah."

"You know, you could start now," Sakura smiled in relief, but turned her face into the curve of her arm to hide it. "I'm a little curious about Lady Kakashi and her cohorts."

His one visible eye widened and she could see his lips open and shut, gaping repeatedly, in the flexing of the dark fabric. Then Kakashi laughed, a gruff yet pleasant sound, and replied, "Actually, it was Lady Kiki."

"Seriously," she deadpanned.

"And Akiko and Gigi."

"Ridiculous."

"Yeah. Someone had stolen the fire daimyo's most prized possession and fled to the Land of Iron with it. Sold it to a samurai with a penchant for women. The hokage gave us the retrieval mission."

"Umm…" Sakura's brows knit in bewilderment. "Why wouldn't he just send a group of kunoichi?"

"Do you haggle with _your_ Hokage over assignments?"

"Okay, point taken."

"Besides," the shinobi added, "Anko was the only one available at the time that had enough experience to pull it off."

"The third was a very wise man."

"He was. Anko's methods would have been less… subtle than ours," his eye gleamed with mischief. "This samurai was known for holding a weekly party. There was a very specific dress code, if you catch my meaning, and if you didn't meet the standards, you didn't get in. So the three of us applied our henge, concentrating on playing up the sexiness, but Gai's… well, he always has had eccentric taste. We couldn't get him to change his eyebrows… _Or his hair_."

"Oh my," Sakura exclaimed, raising a hand to her mouth. "He didn't!"

"He did." Kakashi shook his head, chuckling at the memory. "And he ended up being the samurai's exact type. _Goddess Gigi_, he called Gai. Their flirtation worked as a great distraction while Asuma and I stole back the item."

"I don't even… I," she floundered. "What the hell?"

"That's what we thought. But, you know, he got the job done. Gai came at it from a whole different angle than the rest us would have, but it worked."

"Yeah."

"It's only been a week, Sakura," he tilted forward in the chair and ruffled her hair. "You just have to forge your own way."

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"_Thanks, Kakashi."_

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"_You're welcome."_

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"Wait!" she sat up suddenly, putting off her body's need for a deeper sleep, with an inquisitive expression. "So, what was the item?"

"A crown."

"A _crown_?"

"Yeah." Kakashi placed his hands behind his head, resting against them. "The daimyo has always been a bit ostentatious. I've heard he likes to wear it and pretend he rules the entire world."

Sakura blinked, owl-like, and then burst with exuberant giggles. When they finally subsided several minutes later and she settled her head down on a fluff of down, the girl could swear there was a smile hidden underneath his mask.

_And her burden felt like it had been cut in half._


	7. Clarity

**Author's Note (edited 9/14/13) : **I added a couple much-needed sentences to the last scene. Nothing major plot-wise, but I think it makes it run much more smoothly.

Alright, another one down! The next update probably won't be until Monday night, so hopefully this is good enough to make up for that. Again, thanks for the reviews - I appreciate the feedback so much!

**Prompt:** It's A Kind Of Magic - Queen (Anyone's P.O.V apart from Sakura and Kakashi)  
**Word Count:** 1876  
**Warnings: **some language, possible spoilers up to chapter 636

A special thank you to my impromptu sort-of-beta,** Naeryna**! She has not seen the written chapters - so any mistakes you see are mine! - but she helped talk me through my outline to make sure I wasn't working some plot-hole-no-jutsu.

**Disclaimer: **Naruto belongs to Kishimoto. I am merely playing in the sandbox he has created. I am most definitely not receiving any monetary compensation for my child's play.

* * *

**ooOoo**

_One dream, one soul, one prize  
One goal, one golden glance of what should be_

**- Queen –**

**ooOoo**

* * *

Obsidian eyes traced her path from a distance, taking in her actions with careful consideration. He stalked her soundlessly, lithe and light on his feet, and prepared a counter-strategy.

Emotions were getting the best of her. He could see it in the trail of hot color that ran up her neck to settle in her cheeks. Her lips pressed tightly together in a thin angry line and her eyes narrowed, searching the tree line for her opponent. She crouched, white knuckles gripping a kunai, as she waited for the right time to pounce.

Sasuke smirked.

_It was simply too easy._

The shinobi flung a paper bomb far to her right, a mere distraction, while he moved from tree to tree in the opposite direction. The curl of his lips grew as she took the bait, turning to defend herself from an enemy that was not there. He slipped to the ground, a clever use of chakra muting his drop, and flash-stepped to the space directly behind her. He had one arm draped fast about her middle and his tanto across her throat before she even had time to blink.

And then the ground gave way, rumbling and crashing beneath his feet, and his arms were left holding nothing more than air.

_Well, Sakura was certainly full of surprises._

The Uchiha prepared himself for round two.

**ooOoo**

"What changed?"

They had reached an impasse in their sparring match, neither wanting to take it to the level in which they would inflict true pain or injury. So they stood face to face, chests heaving with the strain of their exertions, as they sized up the other.

In the course of the day's exercises, Sasuke made a discovery that enlightened him. He had always thought of Sakura as weak, illiterate in the ways of the shinobi. Even when her ferocity had been showcased in battle, eliminating a horde of Zetsu with a single swing of her fist, he had been more humored with his teammate's excitement than impressed with her capability. The man had barely considered her to be up to an acceptable level for a Sannin apprentice; her accomplishments were the absolute minimum expected of her. Her skills were so far below his as to render her unworthy of his attention had they not been assigned to the same genin squad.

And yet, she continued to meet him halfway, jutsu for jutsu, over the course of the afternoon. What she lacked in ability, Sakura more than made up for in creativity.

_And Sasuke felt like he was seeing her for the first time._

"What," the girl paused to take in another gulp of air, "do you mean?"

"You've been here nine days," Sasuke clarified, his curiosity masked by his lack of inflection. "That's the first time I've seen you fight like that."

Sakura's hands went to her hips. "Fight like _what_, exactly?"

"Like a kunoichi." He watched her arms drop back to her sides, her defensive posturing abandoned. "What changed?"

"I don't know," the girl shrugged.

Her expression was carefully blank, like she had suddenly closed herself off from him. It broke the flow of conversation between them, a lull both unwanted and awkward, and Sasuke found himself in a predicament far outside of his comfort zone. _He_ had to be the one to push forward dialogue with Sakura instead of the converse which was their established norm.

With a sigh, Sasuke crossed his arms, throwing out the first thought that came to mind that was sure to get a response. "You're still thinking too much."

"Yeah, well," she replied, an exasperated glare on her face, "if you'd tell me something that's, I don't know, actually _useful_, I wouldn't be stuck figuring it out for myself. Because, you know, trying to understand how to activate it requires _thinking_."

"Save your whining for Kakashi," he told her with a dismissive wave.

"Fine." Sakura turned to gather her scattered weapons. "_Jerk_."

The smile, swift yet bright, that spread across her lips at the mention of the other man's name stayed with Sasuke for the rest of the evening.

**ooOoo**

Sasuke Uchiha was a proud man.

The magnitude of his natural shinobi genius had been, even from childhood, on the lips of both adult and peer. The ease in which he excelled, mastering abilities that should have been beyond his reach, caused the village to marvel, to put him upon a pedestal. He aggressively strove to maintain these high standards, though not for the recognition of others.

His labors were for the satisfaction of being the best and to triumph over the few – _Itachi, Naruto_ - that threatened that self-given title.

Sasuke was not used to failing in his endeavors. It was with great difficulty that he admitted to himself that his methods of dealing with Sakura were lacking. Perception, being able to instantly take stock of an enemy's strengths and weaknesses, had always been his greatest skill. The man prided himself with it, how he could turn the characteristics of a person against them in the heat of battle. But he had neglected to do so with her and her training suffered for it.

The kunoichi was a highly emotive creature. She felt, deeply and truly, in every fiber of her being. It overflowed from every pore, manifesting through violence and tears. He had thought it would be enough, that all he had to do was get her fury or her sorrow circulating, and that the sharigan would activate. Emotion was the key to all the Uchiha ocular jutsu and Sakura had that it spades. Somehow though, it had not been sufficient. And Sasuke had blamed her for it.

But the man realized that when he had originally decided on a course of action, the curriculum he would impose, he had forgotten to take into account the nature of the female to be taught.

_Her_ _temperament was dissimilar to his own._

It was an oversight Sasuke was set to remedy.

**ooOoo**

Her eyes surveyed the change of venue, a delicate pink brow arching in question, as she flicked a wrist towards the table. "What's this?"

Sasuke had summoned her to a different area of the complex than the usual clearing in the woods. A table, prepared with tea service for two, and a pair of chairs sat in the center of an open air porch which wrapped around the back of the main residence.

"Sit." He reclined, relaxing into his seat, and watched her struggle to obey. Suspicion reflected in her eyes and her back remained rigidly upright. "Your progression hasn't moved forward as I had expected."

Emotion flickered across her green iris – _he thought he recognized it as despondency_ – but fled before it could reach the black of the other. It was quickly displaced by a mask of irritation. "If you would just-"

"Smash that tree," Sasuke interrupted, pointing to large fir several meters to the back of the veranda.

"What?!"

"Just do it, Sakura."

The kunoichi glared, retrieving her work-worn gloves from their pouch, and shoved them on. With a huff, she rushed the evergreen. Chakra surged through her network, a steady flowing stream, as she contracted and extended her arm. Splinters and choking dust filled the air, obscuring sight, until the cold autumn breeze took them away. Tremors shook the ground with the aftershocks of the felling of the great wood.

Sakura removed the leather from her hands and smacked them against her thigh, dislodging powdered debris. Then she strode back to her chair with a well-pleased grin. "Okay, done."

"How did you do it?"

"You just watched me," Sakura frowned, "and you have the sharigan. You know how I did it."

"Yes, but I want _you_ to tell me."

"I…" she hesitated. "I directed my chakra to my hand, building it up in my knuckles at the precise point where they would make contact with the trunk. Then I released it in a concentrated burst just before impact."

"What would happen if you didn't let your chakra build?"

"The jutsu would be ineffective," the girl replied with a slight scowl. "And I'd probably break my hand."

"What would happen if you diffused the release?"

"You mean instead of keeping it focused?" When he responded with an affirmative nod, Sakura continued. "Again, it would be ineffective."

"Think about that." Sasuke stood to leave and his brusque movement caused the girl to gape in surprise, mirroring his action.

She stomped her foot and exclaimed, "First, you tell me I think too much. And now you _want_ me to think? Make up your damn mind!"

Sasuke laughed to himself as he walked away. "Tomorrow. Be ready."

Once last glance over his shoulder, taking in her pensive countenance, proved that the wheels were already turning.

**ooOoo**

His mission for the day was to evoke any and every emotion she was capable of experiencing and trust that she understood the point of the previous day's object lesson. Taijutsu, he decided, would be the perfect medium with which to carry out his plan. In many ways, the nature of the skill was extremely intimate. Contact, skin on skin and eye to eye, was an inevitability. He could whisper his taunts directly into her ear, watching for the subtle changes in her physiology, and adjust his direction accordingly.

So far, Sasuke had yet to elicit the desired result.

The man had insulted her lack of ancestry and belittled her mentor. He laid bare every way her uselessness had been obvious, from her time as a genin through her experiences in the latest shinobi war. Her lack of advancement as a leaf kunoichi was painted in terribly vivid detail. He attacked her appearance, personality, and character with ruthless resolve. No flaw was spared, but she had not cracked. The only indication of her suffering was the fire in her eyes.

_But it still wasn't enough._

He needed to find her trigger. His mind sifted through the files it had on the kunoichi, searching with alacrity for any bits of information that he may have overlooked. There was something - _something he was missing_ - that was important. Something obvious. He could feel it in his very marrow.

And then the man remembered the smile, the one of hers that had previously been burned into his retina, and he changed tactics.

"You're never going to save him, Sakura."

The girl spun, dodging a blow to the midsection, and countered with one of her own. Outwardly, she kept her composure, but her pulse rate skyrocketed. Sasuke evaded her attempt at a sweep and continued.

"He going to die there," he blocked a kick and twisted in the knife. "_Alone_."

Her respiration increased. She managed to maintain control, to bury the negative sentiment and condense it, but Sasuke could see change in the shaking of her hands and the desperate glint in her eyes.

"And because you're too weak to change anything," Sasuke caught her off balance and pinned her to the ground, "Kakashi's death will be on your hands."

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_The desolation percolated, boiling over into a blend of scarlet on black._


	8. Dilation

**Author's Note: **Sorry it took so long to get this one out! I've had some real life stuff come up this week that put a strain on my writing time, but things seem to have settled down for now. I should have the next one up by late Monday night, but no guarantees. Anyway, let me know what you think.

**Prompt:** Hold - Superchick (Kakashi's P.O.V)  
**Word Count:** 1855  
**Warnings: **some language, possible spoilers up to chapter 636

The title is in reference to one of the objects in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. The item allows the user to see things not visible to the naked eye.

A special thank you to my impromptu sort-of-beta,** Naeryna**! She has not seen the written chapters - so any mistakes you see are mine! - but she helped talk me through my outline to make sure I wasn't working some plot-hole-no-jutsu.

**Disclaimer: **Naruto belongs to Kishimoto. I am merely playing in the sandbox he has created. I am most definitely not receiving any monetary compensation for my child's play.

* * *

**ooOoo**

_Tell me that You'll help me fight this fight  
Tell me that You won't leave me alone in this_

**- Superchick –**

**ooOoo**

* * *

He never really got used to it, the all-consuming void. Pitch black, the shade of oblivion, so negated his physical senses – _sight, hearing, smell, taste, touch_ – that it became a sense in its own right, heavy and pervasive. Sense of self was the one thing he had left, his only recourse against the darkness. So the man had retreated further and further into his own psyche, reliving memories and trying his best to hope for a future. But there was only so much an imagination could do with a total lack of stimuli and Kakashi was amazed that he had managed to survive the monotony.

Perhaps that had been Obito's intent.

_Retribution._

Kakashi found it a bit poetic. Regardless of the outcome of the war, whether the tides of battle favored the alliance or the Uchiha madmen, the result for him would be the same. If the infinite tsukiyomi had worked, Obito would have left him to rot, a preserved relic of another time and place. His former teammate may have even came back to the kamui dimension periodically, to gloat over his victories and rub salt in the ever-open wounds. But the cruel beauty of the situation was that even if Obito lost, even if the united shinobi prevailed, Kakashi would still meet the same fate.

_Unending years to dwell on his mistakes._

The man wasn't sure he deserved anything less, but he was thankful that rescue was coming. In fact, it came every evening - _a petite, pink package_ – to chase away the tedium.

**ooOoo**

A flood of cheerful color rushed into his mind, bombarding his weakened eyes, and he winced as his sight adjusted. Sakura came bounding in shortly thereafter, all beaming smiles and excess energy. Her quick strides spoke of success and her posture, squared shoulders and relaxed hands, was charged with confidence. The girl looked at him, unwavering, and Kakashi knew before she even opened her mouth to speak.

"I did it!" she exclaimed with a fist to the air. "I activated that damn sharigan."

"I knew you would," he replied simply, his pleased smirk hidden in fabric.

Her reaction to his affirmation took him by surprise. The girl didn't speak at first. Instead she looped an arm around her middle, grasping fingers curled over her forearm opposite, while she drew abstract shapes into the carpet with the toe-edge of her sandal. Reclining against the now-present desk, his lips fell into a thin line and he buried his hands within his pockets, appraising the conflictions in her expression. The corners of her mouth had increased their curve, stretching her cheeks to bursting with pride and pleasure, but her eyes shifted to take in the ground at her feet. After a couple beats, Sakura raised her head just a bit, cocked at an unsure angle, and met his gaze. Irises, open and innocent, were dilated with lingering doubt.

"Really?"

The man nodded, sharp and sure, and he crossed his arms. "Yeah."

She let out a breath, deep and sustained, and seemed to deflate along with her lungs. There was no longer any trace of melancholy or reservation in her features though, rather a mixture of relief and exhaustion. Sakura turned her back to him, pulling aside the quilt to expose the sheets, and then rearranged the mass of pillows. Before plonking down and burying herself into the padded coziness of the bed, the girl stretched her arms over her head and twisted her neck to and fro, vertebrate snapping back into place with disturbingly loud pops, to relieve the pressure that had transferred from body to subconscious. Once comfortably nestled, she propped her head up on her elbow and gave him a grin.

"Good."

Tension left his body. He hadn't even been aware of the contraction of his muscles - _the tightness running through his back, neck, and biceps_ - until her smile cut the cord of stress. Habit had him reaching for the back of his neck, scratching his fingers absently through the hairs on his nape as if the action could tear away his discomfort. Kakashi didn't like it, seeing firsthand the fruit of his former neglect. Now that the man was truly observing Sakura, the qualities that he found sometimes present in her countenance gnawed at him. And he knew, felt the truth boil in his blood, that he was the one who planted the seeds of insecurities that she did not deserve to have.

_His mistakes had hurt her._

Guilt could turn thoughts morbid with a horrifying ease and Kakashi had no desire to return to the near-craziness that marred his time before her radiance infiltrated in mind. It was not something he needed to dwell on, not when the dark would be soon returning. A change in direction – _highlighting her successes rather than his failures_ - was in order.

"So, are you going to give me the details?"

Sakura's face contorted into something between anger and disgust, but the intensity of feeling in her voice was fairly mild. "Sasuke was a complete ass. He literally insulted everything about me, all in that damn monotone voice of his. I mean, I know he had a purpose and that purpose was ultimately to help me, but–" the girl cut herself off with a fierce growl, "he didn't have to do it so thoroughly."

"It takes intense emotion–"

"Yeah, yeah," Sakura waved off his rebuttal, "I know. But the funny thing was that most of what he said didn't really matter to me. Not anymore. Sure, I got a little angry and that helped me bottle up some of energy I required. He _was_ damn cruel, after all. But after living through the war and everything, all those things he brought up just didn't carry much weight."

Kakashi inclined his head in understanding. "Facing death puts life into perspective."

"Exactly. All those things, that crap that used to bother me so much, just seemed so trivial in comparison."

"So then, from one sharigan user to another, what was your trigger?"

"Uh-uh, Sensei, that's a secret," she chided with a coy lilt in her voice and half-drawn lids. His cheeks flushed under his mask, surprised by her unexpected retort, and he had to turn away to keep her from catching on. In the small moment he took to compose himself, Sakura had slumped fully into her pillow and serious lines had begun to burrow into her forehead. "Can I ask you something?"

"Sure," Kakashi drawled.

"What changed?"

"What do you mean?"

She eyed him carefully, only allowing herself a slight hesitation before clarifying. "Why do you believe in me now?"

Air bit into his teeth as his lungs expelled the oxygen from his body and his heart rate increased exponentially, flooding his head with the rush of blood. It took a few long seconds for him to get his bearings. That was not a question that Kakashi was expecting. Not from Sakura. The man reached for the chair at his side, twisting it in a quarter circle which would enable him to sit facing her, and hung his head in his hands.

_So much for escaping his failures._

After composing himself for a second time, this instance being much less agreeable than the first, Kakashi set his obsidian gaze on her own. "Honestly?"

"Yes."

"I knew you'd be a good kunoichi," he took a deep breath, adjusting his limbs in the chair, and continued. "Your chakra control has always been above average and you're very intelligent. I figured after a few years, you'd pass your chuunin exam with flying colors. But that's all I really expected."

"I see." The sound trembled, muted with emotion, as the girl forced it over her lips.

"I don't think you do," his voice mimicked her soft tones. "When I looked at you, I could see that you didn't have the physicality or genetic make-up to get you further than chuunin. But I knew that what you did have would get you every bit as far as I could get you. You didn't need my guidance to become a strong shinobi – you were more than capable of doing it on your own – and that was something I immediately understood when I met you. It's never been about belief, Sakura. I've always believed in you. The real issue was that for all my abilities, I was blind to your true potential. I failed you, not the other way around.

"And it's only been during the past couple years that I've been able to see my mistake. _That_ is what changed."

Sakura sat up, dangling her legs off the side of the bed, and her hands clutched tightly to the hem of her shirt. Glossy eyes studied him while her nose wrinkled up with her bewilderment. "Oh. That wasn't what I was expecting."

"Sakura, I am sorry." His head drooped, heavy with regret. "And I'm glad you were able to find a sensei that could see the latent talent I missed."

The creak of mattress springs and the padding of feet across the small span of distance between her and him had barely registered in Kakashi's ears before her arms were around his neck, earnest and accepting in their embrace. "Thank you, Sensei."

"Please don't call me that," he mumbled into the hair that shrouded his face. "I don't deserve it."

Sakura tightened her hold. Exhalations brushed against his jawline as she adjusted her head, bringing her mouth close to his ear, and a few stray drops of saline dampened his collar. She gently cleared her throat – _once, twice, and then thrice_ – and the vibrations travelled the length of his spine, causing him to shiver.

"I will call you Kakashi from now on," she whispered, "if you'll accept my forgiveness."

The man pulled her close, folding his arms around her slim shape in a non-verbal signal of his assent, and secreted his face into the feather-soft abundance of her hair. "Okay."

"And you haven't failed me, Kakashi," the girl breathed, pressing her forehead to his. "You were my trigger."

Sakura drew her legs up, relaxing into his larger frame, and let the fatigue of the day take her into a deeper rest. Her scent, feminine and sweet, filled his nostrils like calming incense. The chill of a long-held burden seeped out of his pores and the fire of release took its place, lending strength his bones. Kakashi clung to her, lighter than he had been in years, until her awakening to reality left him in the darkness.

But the when the oblivion came, it no longer bothered the man. The void had lost its stifling power, released from the weight of his own darkness, because he had received her absolution.

Sakura had become his salvation, the necessary curative for the ailments of his mind and the tool of redemption for his body. And in the absence of the blinding regret, a realization – _new and unsought awareness_ – was able to filter through.

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_Kakashi never wanted to let her go._


	9. Contrast

**Author's Note: **This one kind of kicked my butt. I was sick most of the week and my brain was in a fog, so it was very hard to write. BUT... there are only two chapters left before this story is done! *does a happy dance* The next chapter will be about the same size as this one and will wrap most of the loose ends. I'm going to try to post it on Monday, but no promises. Thanks again for reading - all the favorites, alerts, and (especially) comments make my day!

**Prompt:** Open Your Eyes - Snow Patrol (Sakura's P.O.V)  
**Word Count: **3961  
**Warnings: **some language, possible spoilers up to chapter 636

Also - A special thank you to my impromptu sort-of-beta, Naeryna! She has not seen the written chapters - so any mistakes you see are mine! - but she helped talk me through my outline to make sure I wasn't working some plot-hole-no-jutsu.

**Disclaimer: **Naruto belongs to Kishimoto. I am merely playing in the sandbox he has created. I am most definitely not receiving any monetary compensation for my child's play.

* * *

**ooOoo**

_Take my hand, knot your fingers through mine  
And we'll walk from this dark room for the last time  
_**– Snow Patrol –**

**ooOoo**

* * *

The pale light of dawn slowly penetrated her senses, causing the girl to shift and stretch on her futon. Frost filled air had seeped in during the night, hovering throughout her guest room in ghostly fashion, but Sakura had felt none of it. Even now, as it brushed against the exposed skin of her face and tickled her lungs with every breath, she was enveloped in a cocoon of body-heated blankets and peace of mind. Contentment as she had rarely felt before – _the last time being the childhood memory of being cuddled by her father shortly before his death_ – soothed her worry-weary heart and the girl stretched, her toes curling with satisfaction. She rolled over to put her back to sunlit shoji, the glow through the translucent paper doors compelling her to wakefulness, and buried herself deeper within the nest of bedclothes, desperate to hang on to the last vestiges of slumber.

_It was too early for a sane person to be up._

Lids fell over her eyes and the heaviness of sleep retook her muscles. Sakura was allowed to drift into rest for a couple more precious hours before the real world came knocking again, this time through the distinct thud of metal against wood rousing her kunoichi instincts.

With a groan, the girl reluctantly pulled away the covers and set about preparing for the day, cursing softly when her bare feet made contact with the chilled floor. She considered the temperature, changed from brisk autumn to frigid winter overnight, and decided on her wardrobe. Previously, despite the nip of the air, the kunoichi had been wearing her normal training outfit of a red sleeveless tunic and close-fitting shorts. The burn that exercise built up her muscles had been more than sufficient to warm her body. But the Uchiha compound was located at a much higher elevation than the village, at the point where the trees climbed the feet of the mountain, and was subject to a more severe winter climate. She didn't think that her exertions alone would keep her warm today.

After folding her bedding and stowing it away with the futon, Sakura slid open her door. Snow had fallen during the wee hours of the night, covering the ground in a thin layer of white, blinding and beautiful. The sound of steel biting the trees had not stopped. In fact, its repetition was growing in frequency. Her geta crunched into frozen landscape, leaving behind a trail of indentations, as she made her way towards the object of her irritation.

About fifty paces to the south of her porch was a thick cloister of evergreens, saplings fighting for spacing to spread their roots, which encircled a small clearing. Sakura had spied it when she first arrived, an intimate spot with a rough-hewn bench and rock garden, but had been too busy since to explore any of the treasures the complex housed. As bothered as she was about being drawn awake before her natural inclination, the girl was happy that at least the thumping was leading her to the place of her previous curiosity.

In the center of the glade stood a woman flinging shuriken with fierce strikes of her wrist, her flaming hair whipping about in a lethal rhythm. The woman turned, giving Sakura her profile, and her identity was immediately apparent.

"Oh… good morning," Sakura forced out, trying for polite but not quite achieving it, "Karin."

Sliding a finger up the bridge of her nose, the other woman adjusted her glasses and gave Sakura the once-over. "I suppose. But considering the time, I would hardly call it morning anymore."

Sakura took a deep, steadying breath – Karin's tone had burrowed under the girl's skin, digging up history that was best left buried – and forced herself to plaster on a smile. "Well, this has been _pleasant_, but I think I should be heading to the training grounds now."

"Just what are you playing at?"

"Excuse me?"

"Don't play innocent with me, you hag." Karin's posture changed, subtly moving from disdain towards aggression. "I've seen you with him."

Sakura balled her fists, squeezing her fingers together until the tingle of numbness began to set in. Her jaw flexed – _in and out, in and out, in and out_ – as she ground her teeth in an effort to keep her composure. It was common knowledge that the red-haired kunoichi was fervently and single-mindedly in love with Sasuke. That kind of obsessive ardor could make a person dangerous, _impulsive_, and Sakura was not eager to have a violent confrontation with any of the inhabitants of the compound, least of all a crazy, lovesick, self-appointed rival. She needed to keep her calm and do her best to defuse the situation. Regardless of her feelings towards Karin, Sakura was a guest and knew that she needed to act accordingly. She could not afford to be sent packing before her training was complete. There was too much on the line – _her sensei, her friend, Kakashi_ – to engage in this female version of a pissing contest.

_And honestly, there was no longer anything left to fight over._

"I'm not playing at anything," the girl replied, calm and even.

Karin's stance softened just a bit, but skepticism cloaked her face. "You know I'm a sensor, right?"

"Yes."

"Do you know what my specific abilities are?" When Sakura had no answer, the woman continued, "I can recognize and differentiate chakra signatures, of course. But if emotions are strong enough they affect chakra flow and I can see that too. So, again, I'm going to ask you what you're playing at. What do you want from Sasuke?"

Sakura huffed and instead of going on the counterattack, she moved to sit on the bench. The tension was mounting – _in the air, in her muscles, and in her bones_ – as Karin stared her down, hands on her hips in indignation. Mismatched eyes rolled up to the sky, taking in the blue-gray of the winter clouds, and she let the peaceful view wash over her. Sakura just needed a small moment of serenity, a calm to prepare for the coming storm, so that she could bring herself to say the things that they both needed to hear. And she had barely found it when the harsh shuffling of feet filled her ears and angry red moved into her line of sight, bringing Sakura back to the circumstance at hand.

"I have no designs on him, no plans or plots," she answered candidly. "Being in this place, spending time with him after all this time, training with him, it's made me realize… I don't love him anymore, Karin."

The woman studied her, mouth gaping open in apparent shock, for several stifling minutes. Despite the unnerving undercurrent, Sakura kept her eyes trained on the other kunoichi's, forcing herself to remain open while she was read over like a book, and waited.

Eventually, Karin nodded, seemingly satisfied, and sat down on the other side of the bench, lazily draping her arms over the backrest. She cocked her head towards Sakura, in quiet and contemplative consideration, and then her mouth lifted the tiniest bit at the corners. "Sometimes I can see other things too."

"Really?" Sakura frowned, disliking the way she felt so transparent. "Like what?"

"You, for instance." Her merlot eyes glazed over, lost in the vision. "I've seen it a couple times, when Sasuke's gotten you really riled up… There's a red string, thin but durable, tied deep within your borrowed eye. I can never quite see where it goes, but I have the feeling the other end is tied somewhere not in this reality."

Sakura shuddered, unsure of what her reaction should be to the strange woman's words. "I–"

"Sakura, why are you here?"

"I think you know my reasons."

Karin closed her eyes, inhaling the cold air, and whispered, "Yeah… It's fate."

After that, the girls sat together in the silence of truce built by their unorthodox negotiation. Nearly a half hour passed before Sasuke came looking for his pupil, his placid façade marred by a questioning brow and confused eyes. The former rivals exchanged one last glance, mixed with resignation and something akin to respect, and nodded in parting.

The odd encounter jostled about in Sakura's mind throughout her training session, knocking loose defenses and preconceived notions that the girl wasn't even aware she had constructed.

**ooOoo**

To say she was unsettled – _uneasy, disquieted, flustered_ – would have been an understatement. Exercise had fatigued her body, bringing her quickly to slumber, but it had done little for the activity of her mind. Her brain had worked nearly triple-time during her session with Sasuke and only a small portion of those thoughts were directed to the tasks he set before her. No, it was Karin's words that she dwelt on. Sakura knew that she should have ignored them, letting them slide over her rather than penetrate, because the foreign kunoichi was not exactly identified by her sanity. But she couldn't.

_Because there were too many implications that rang with the sound of truth._

And so she arrived that night full of hesitation, not sure whether being in his company was such a good idea. The man was always so damn perceptive and Sakura's feeling were ever on display. But empathy for Kakashi's situation – _always dark, always alone_ – drove her to go, following the familiar path of energy from her head to his. All the while, the girl tried to ignore that the connection of chakra, her method of finding him in the dark, was a red-tinted glow.

Curiosity was present in his stare as he watched her go about her nightly routine, arranging her bedding in silence. The knowledge of his attention curled up her spine, making her movements stiff and clumsy, and imbedded itself under her skin. She felt exposed and raw, like her secrets had been inked across her body in an intricate tattoo and every one of her nerves had moved from their proper places to sit openly on the surface. Everything, from the soft rustle of cloth against his skin to the cadence of his exhalation, filled her overwrought senses. It was too much. Her awareness was suddenly so filled with him, hypersensitive to every tiny piece of stimuli he was providing. And Sakura suspected he could see right through her.

_She needed a distraction._

The girl climbed onto the bed, feigning nonchalance as she tucked herself in, and attempted to steady the rush of blood thrumming in her head. Kakashi was still pondering her, quizzical lines etched around his visible eye. Sakura swallowed, hiding the lump in her throat by pulling the quilt up to her chin, and turned her gaze to a spot on the wall over his shoulder as she scrambled for something benign to say.

"Sakura, are y–"

"What do you miss the most?" she blurted out. "I mean, you know… what do you want to do when you get back?"

The man blinked a couple times, surprised, and then he relaxed. "I miss a lot of things."

"That's not an answer."

"Well," Kakashi drawled out, slow and serious. "I miss my books. Nothing like Icha Icha to brighten up a man's day."

"Seriously?" Sakura exclaimed, incredulous. "_That's_ what you miss the most?"

"Sure. If I had hot, busty ladies to spend time wi–"

Sakura interrupted his dialogue with a pillow upside the head. "You. Are. A pervert!"

Kakashi leaned over in the chair, burying his face in one hand. Indignation left Sakura as confusion knit her brows. As she continued to observe him, his body began to shake and he wrapped his free arm around his stomach. The girl was just starting to worry when a deep, mirthful sound filled the air. For a few short moments, she merely stared at him, but his laughter was contagious and soon she joined in with her own lively giggling.

Minutes later, they were still catching their breath and finally eyes met properly. He nodded and she smiled and it was suddenly okay. All the musings that had set her on edge, that had twisted her guts into nervous knots, clicked into place and stopped their frantic movements. Fate, for reasons unclear, had connected her to this man. She didn't know why they had ended up here, strangely reliant on each other, or where their path was headed beyond his rescue. But seeing him now, displaying a silliness – _a vulnerability _– that she was sure he rarely showed anyone, Sakura was ready to find out where this would lead.

_She wanted to know him._

**ooOoo**

The wind kicked up icy particles, obscuring her vision and watering her eyes. Sweat slicked her skin, brought on by the stress of her labor, and chilled her body in the frigid outside air as she dodged the blow aimed for her temple. She spun a half turn to her left and dropped to a single hand, using it as a pivot point for a flaring windmill kick. The attack missed and her back met the floor of snow, the pressure of a masculine hand on her shoulder increasing the force and deflating her lungs with the impact.

"You're wasting my time, Sakura," he taunted. "That eye knows what to do. It just needs your emotion to spark it."

"I know, dammit," she growled after a deep breath reset her airways. "It's just muscle memory. This eye has used the kamui technique before, so it doesn't need to learn it. I just need to find a strong enough feeling. Blah, blah, blah… You've been saying the same things over and over and _over_ again."

"Then get up and find it."

Pulling her legs under her, the girl obeyed, brushing off the white that clung to her clothing, and readied her stance for their next collision of wills.

**ooOoo**

"You look like hell."

"Thanks," Sakura grimaced, "that's just what a girl wants to hear."

"_Sakura_."

A sigh left her body, tired and frustrated, and the girl made her way to the bed. Instead of snuggling down in the covers though, she pushed aside most of the mound of pillows, keeping one to hug, and sat against the headboard. "Training has been… discouraging."

"I see." Kakashi walked around to the opposite side of the bed, tossing the excess fluff to the footboard, and settled in next to her.

"Yeah," she said, absently tugging on a corner of the pillow linen. "Sasuke says the eye can already activate the kamui, since the eye retains memories of any jutsu it has performed. And I get that. I'm a medic, after all. I understand the concept of the neuroanatomy of memory. But I'm having trouble triggering it and it's so aggravating to be so close but unable to do it… And I think Sasuke's getting bothered by me, too."

"Has chakra-drain been a problem?" he asked with some concern.

"Nope," she replied, a brief smile flitting across her face. "I've been storing my chakra for over a year. I've got plenty."

"You mastered the Byakugo no In?"

"Yep."

"Good. That's really good. As for the rest, stop trying to force it," he suggested, pulling her hand into his lap as he entwined their fingers. "It'll come when it comes. Besides, I'm not going anywhere."

With her free hand, Sakura reintroduced his face to the weight of her pillow. "That's a terrible joke."

"I know." He chuckled at her pouting expression. "You know what I want to do?"

She stared at him a moment, struck silent by the sudden turn in conversation, before her brain made a connection. "You're talking about the question I asked you the other night?"

"Yeah."

The girl narrowed her eyes. "Are you going to give me a real answer this time? Or do I need to ready my pillow for battle again?"

"Just because you didn't like my answer doesn't mean it was invalid."

"You're treading on thin ice, old man."

"Fine, you win," he conceded with a squeeze to her hand. "I promise that it is a _real_ answer."

She crushed his hand in response and warning, adding a fake-sweet modulation to her voice, "Okay, so what do you want to do?"

He stretched his legs and shifted a little closer, his breath ruffling her hair as he spoke. "I want to find a nice hilltop, one with a good view of the village, and stay up there all day. Maybe I'll even take a blanket and a basket of food, if it doesn't take too much effort. I'll just relax, soaking up all the sunlight I can get."

It surprised her, the simplicity of his response, and emotion hit her like a kick to the chest. She leaned her head against his shoulder, taking comfort in his presence, and tried to keep the sentimental saline from leaking down her cheeks. He had been through so much – _too much_ – and Sakura couldn't even imagine what she would do in his position. The girl gulped around her heart, now a painful lump in her throat, and whispered, "That sounds really nice."

"I was hoping you'd think so," he whispered back and she thought his voice sounded as tremulous as her own, "because I'd like you to go with me."

"Really?"

"Unless you'd like me to take the Icha Icha girls instead."

This time he caught the pillow when she flung it at his face, smirking in triumph under his mask. Sakura grunted and then rushed for the pile at the end of the bed. She had just managed to gather one into her arms when he grabbed her ankle and dragged her back to the head of the bed. The girl squealed, momentarily startled, but she rolled to her back as he pulled and launched another attack once within range. It landed with great force and in his slightly dazed state, Kakashi let go. Scrambling for more ammunition, Sakura moved with swift determination. Soon, she was dual-wielding, a pillow for each hand, and going on the offensive. Fluff caught him on the chin, the shoulder, and in the gut. Laughter filled her belly, pleased with her overwhelming victory.

Then, as she turned to retrieve a replacement weapon for the one he wrenched from her grasp, hands wrapped around her middle. One second she was crawling about the bed under her own power, the next her back was bouncing against the mattress. Kakashi worked quickly, with speed she could not match, disposing of her tools of destruction and pining her arms above her head.

"Enough with the pillows, woman."

She tried to give him a stern look, but her continued giggling ruined the effect. "Unhand me."

"I don't think so."

The change in his tone, shifting into a deep reverberation, made her laughter trail off. A slow-building tension took its place, coiling tightly in her middle, and her breathing became shallow puffs in and out of her lungs. Heat, filtering into her body from several different contact points, worked its way up to color her cheeks. Both of her legs were trapped by his, the inside of his knees pressing into the outside of her thighs. One large hand enveloped both of her wrists, stretching her frame out beneath him so that their chests were nearly touching, while he rested his weight on the corresponding elbow that grazed her ear. The other hand rested gently on the protrusion of her hipbone, drawing lazy circles into the fabric of her lounge pants.

Then Kakashi bowed his head forward slightly and she felt like time stopped. Her heart forgot to beat, her lungs how to breath, and her entire body stilled in anticipation. He continued to lean in, increment by thrilling increment, and she knew without one single doubt.

_She wanted to taste his lips._

Lips parted as he drew closer, her lungs finally remembering how to act, and a whisper of shuddering air escaped. The girl closed her eyes, the intensity of the situation overwhelming, and waited to feel his mouth on her own.

Instead, warm breath tickled the fine hairs of her neck, sliding around her ear, and the press of soft flesh burned into the juncture of her jawline, lingering for a few beats of her fitful heart. He rested his head, brow to brow, on hers, and then abruptly moved off the bed.

"Go to sleep, Sakura." The sound came out somewhat strangled, still deep, rough. "You need to rest for tomorrow."

"Yeah," the girl responded quietly as she grabbed a pillow and buried herself into the comforter.

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But the strength of what she felt gave her too many things to ponder, so deeper sleep was not forthcoming.

**ooOoo**

The girl was tired.

Kakashi had been correct, of course, but that just made her more irritated. She was weary of losing spar after spar to her former teammate and worn-out from her inability to activate the required jutsu. She was fed-up with being unable to reach her goals while watching everyone else surpass her. She hated being a failure and was exhausted from her near-constant state of confusion. She was exasperated with Sasuke and his stupid face and the damn frustrating way he had of never explaining things properly.

And right now, Sakura felt like she was more tired of taijutsu than anything else, drained from the rhythm of block, kick, jab, and punch, blow after blow after _blow_.

She would much rather go back to last night when she felt anything but tired.

And so she did.

The kunoichi cleared her mind of the present, allowing her body to react of its own accord, and the years of intensive training became readily apparent. On the outside, Sakura continued her pattern – _block, counter, strike_ – while internally she concentrated on the feelings of mirth, adoration, and newly awakened desire, reliving the sensations that had been evoked the night previous.

The woman had come to a couple of realizations during her restless night. The admission that she liked him, _liked Kakashi_, was the first. And it wasn't a simple kind of attachment. Over the course of this strange journey, he had become a friend rather than the acquaintance that she had always considered him to be. In getting to know him, she discovered that she really enjoyed his company, his wry sense of humor and compassionate wisdom. And she wanted to know more and more of the man underneath.

_It was something more involved than friendship._

For the first time since her delusions of a relationship with the Uchiha, Sakura wanted someone. That much had become clear. The situation she had found herself in – _the playful teasing, the shifting of the atmosphere, and his touch ghosting over her body _– appealed to her in a manner she had not thought possible. Everything that had felt wrong when Sasuke had her in a similar position felt so incredibly right with Kakashi.

_But it was something deeper than desire, too._

The woman's second acknowledgement was that she wanted to build something with him, not just receive something from him. Sakura wasn't quite sure what that something was yet, but she fancied that they could figure it out together.

_If she ever got him out of that hellhole._

That thought tore a path under her skin, through her veins, with violent force and it erupted in a growl. She caught Sasuke on the jaw with a well-timed back kick, stunning him momentarily. Sakura had just enough time to see him rub his face gingerly, a scowl marring his handsome features, and then she was gone.

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_All she could see was abstract white._


	10. Color Blind

**Author's Note: **We're almost to the end - just one short chapter left to wrap things up! I meant to have this ready for last night, but I had so much material to cover that it ended up going a lot longer than I thought. That, and I threw out my back and have been on painkillers for the past few days, so my brain hasn't been quite as clear as usual. Anyway, I really hope this came out okay, since I put a lot of effort into it. Seriously, let me know what you guys think.

**Prompt:** You Picked Me - A Fine Frenzy (Sakura's P.O.V)  
**Word Count: **5771  
**Warnings: **some language, possible spoilers up to chapter 648  
**  
**Also - A special thank you to my impromptu sort-of-beta, Naeryna! She has not seen the written chapters - so any mistakes you see are mine! - but she helped talk me through my outline to make sure I wasn't working some plot-hole-no-jutsu.

**Disclaimer: **Naruto belongs to Kishimoto. I am merely playing in the sandbox he has created. I am most definitely not receiving any monetary compensation for my child's play.

* * *

**ooOoo**

_You got me  
Searched the sand and climbed the tree  
And brought me back down  
_**– A Fine Frenzy –**

**ooOoo**

* * *

Sakura landed with little grace, unprepared for the travel through inter-dimensional space. Knees were sore from taking the brunt of her weight and her palms bled from minor abrasions, having protected her head from impact with the ground. With a groan, she righted herself and began to take stock of her surroundings.

The view was as impressive as it was eerie. The landscape was jagged with strange outcroppings of pale stone, all sharp points and ninety degree angles. Nothing was soft or curved or natural. Instead there were all manner of cubic shapes as far as her eyes could see, the contrast of their outline harsh against the empty sky.

The kunoichi stretched her head back, surveying black above. There was no sun or moon, no stars or any other known form of heavenly lights, and yet her sight was just as keen as if the world was cast in sunlight. The phenomenon was something she had never encountered before, the non-descending darkness, and it added to the unnatural atmosphere. Shaking off the chill that settled down her spine, Sakura began the search for her quarry.

Forward progress was slow going. There was no path for her to follow, no obvious byway. She wound through the gaps in the box-like boulders, marking them off with a kunai as she went, and hoped that she was heading in the right direction. Sometimes she would find herself suddenly standing in the middle of a clearing. Other times would find her way blocked entirely and she would have to leap over the obstacles, aided by chakra. And all the while, Sakura kept a diligent eye over the whole of the environment, assessing any and everything for a trace of Kakashi.

The girl continued her plight with unflagging determination. Her muscles burned from the prolonged activity and her neck ached from the constant back and forth strain. A rumbling from deep within was the only thing that marked the passage of time in the other-worldly labyrinth, reminding her that she had very little in the way of supplies.

_And the fact that she wasn't even sure if she would be able to leave._

Sakura pushed that thought to the back of her mind – _later, later, later_ – so that the panic wouldn't well up and take over. Finding him was her first priority. There would be plenty of time after that to work out the finer details of the kamui, to figure out how she activated it in the first place. For now, all she could do was keep moving, keep pushing forward, until she was too tired to continue.

And it came eventually, the point at which Sakura knew that she had to have rest. The kunoichi refused to tap into her stored chakra, understanding that she would need that reserve to return to reality, and her normal energy levels were waning. Hunched over, sweaty hands on sweaty thighs, she took in a shaky breath and considered the wall in front of her. It stretched close to twenty feet vertically with no way around or gap through for a sizeable distance. With her body as worn as it was, making camp was the smart thing to do. The girl rifled through the pockets of her vest and the pouches resting on her hip and thigh, finding the underwhelming supply of two protein bars and a soldier pill.

_Screw it._

Sakura pushed energy to the soles of her feet and hurdled into the air, catching a single sandal on the face of rock before pushing off again. The third contact found her on top of the plateau, breathless and weak, and she plopped down in exhaustion with her back flat against the wide stone shelf. Her eyes shuttered closed and sleep overtook her will.

**ooOoo**

"Kakashi!" the woman screamed, shrill and demanding. "Kakashi!"

"What?" he replied, a quiet chuckle punctuating his calm tone.

"Where the hell are you?" Sakura was seething, her hands on her hips, and directing an exasperated glare in his direction.

The man frowned, "Right here, obviously."

"No, not here," she let out a fierce sound, some mix between a grunt and growl, and threw her hands up. "There! I've been there all damn day and I. Can't. Find. You."

"Wait… there? You activated it?"

"Yes!" Sakura hissed. "And I've been searching through endless miles of really large, stupid white boxes for you all day. _All day_. So if you could give me any idea about where your body is, I'd really appreciate it."

"Lay down, Sakura," he chided, guiding her backwards until the bed hit the back of her knees. "You need to calm down and rest. Can't afford you being careless with my body."

"Funny," she spat, narrowed eyes digging into his skull. But still, she let him push her into the mattress, relaxing a tiny bit as he pulled the quilt up to her neck.

"I know." Kakashi dragged the chair over to her bedside, his fingers tucking a loose hair behind her ear, as his eyes drifted off in distant thought. "There's a clearing. I'm sitting down with my back against one of the stones. Sorry, it's not much."

"No, it's not. But it's more than I had before," the woman sighed, fatigue mellowing her aggressive feelings. "I've been wasting a lot of energy searching every little nook and cranny. At least I can narrow down my search."

"Good."

"Yeah."

Kakashi tilted forward in his seat, resting his elbows on the edge of the bed, and reached for her hand. Lifting it up gently and placing it between both of his own palms, he hung his forehead upon them. Warm air, escaping his mouth in small puffs, slid over her fingers and down the fine hairs of her arm, a pleasant tickling sensation that threatened to produce a girlish giggle. But she didn't let it come to fruition, instead choosing to maintain the tranquility of the moment. Sakura steadied herself, matching her exhalations to the rhythm of his own, and let his presence lull her mind to rest.

Just as she lost the battle to slumber, the woman felt him shift, tenderly kissing her palm, and whisper.

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"_Thank you."_

**ooOoo**

The deep ache of overworked muscles digging into the hard ground woke the weary kunoichi. She lifted her lids, the sight of the other world making her growl out loud as she remembered with great irritation what her task for the day was, and she buried her face into the crook of her arm. Sakura counted from one to ten slowly, an exercise in mental preparation, and then reluctantly sat up. The sooner she started, the sooner she could be back home.

_Hopefully._

The girl patted herself down, trying to find the pocket in which she had stowed her meager food stores, and when she came up empty there she shoved a hand in her hip pouch. Her fingers curled around the object of her desire and she let out a small shout of victory before tearing open the wrapper. By the fourth bite her stomach finally settled down a bit and Sakura turned to regard the horizon from her high perch. She'd been too tired, too ready for sleep, to check it out before.

The wall she climbed previously looked over a decent sized clearing, the surrounding protrusions of stone giving it an irregular, yet vaguely circular shape. There were two large gaps in the formations and none of the boulders came close to the height of the one she was currently occupying. Finished with her breakfast, the kunoichi searched the grounds before her, deciding on which path she would take to work through the clearing. Directly in front of her was a sheer drop, while to the right and left there were a few platforms she could navigate with less chakra expense. Sakura took to the right.

It didn't take her much time to reach the bottom, though considerably longer than a straight drop would have. Sakura cracked her knuckles and pulled her arms back and forth, stretching out the last of the stiffness from her body, before taking in the clearing at ground level. She had landed near one of the two gaps in an alcove that had been hidden from her view by a taller grouping. Surveying the nook, the woman took a half step backwards, turning as she did so, and tripped over the uneven terrain.

Sakura regained her footing and gasped.

It was Kakashi.

After all this time, she had found him completely by accident. Sakura went to her knees, crying out tears of relief, and reached for his hand, her actions mirroring his from the night before. A happy sigh parted her lips when she found his fingers warm and pliable, reassuring her that he was, in fact, very much alive despite the chilling sight of his time-frozen body. After a few seconds to collect herself, the medic in her went to work sending her chakra to her hands and she catalogued his injuries – _severe wound to the abdomen, ruptured spleen, chakra depletion, minor wounds on the head and arms_ – for future reference. She wanted to be prepared for when the seal was broken.

_If the seal was broken._

Sakura sat against the stone, shoulder to shoulder with him, and pushed the negative thoughts to the farthest corner of her brain. Now was not the time for it. She had to get them out of there and back to Konoha. The woman gathered his hand in hers again, enjoying the contrast of his rough knuckles against her softer skin, and shut her eyes.

The kunoichi replayed the scene leading up to the kamui's activation over and over and over again, looking for the key that would allow her to do it again.

And when she got it, finally figured out the riddle, Sakura was amazed by the simplicity of it.

The woman pulled her knees underneath her and leaned closer, carefully dropping his hand to press her fingers into his shoulder instead. Angling her head, she pressed her lips shyly into his exposed cheekbone and then whispered, "Let's go home."

_Desire and destination. _

The dingy ceiling of the hospital had never been such a welcome sight.

**ooOoo**

"Well," Sakura paused to adjust the pillows under her head, "we made it. We're back in Konoha."

The man grinned. "I know."

"What you do you mean by that?" she asked, surprised, as she continued to fidget, trying in vain to find a comfortable position.

"I can feel my body. And everything that touches it." The material of his mask flexed around his ever-growing smirk. "Did I forget to mention that?"

The woman stilled, eyes connected to his. "So…"

"So," Kakashi tapped his cheek, "what was that for, Sakura?"

"I–It was nothing," she stammered and flung herself under the covers.

"Nothing, huh?"

"Oh, shut up." Sakura threw one of the extra squares of fluff over her shoulder, but missed him by a wide margin. "I need my rest."

She slipped away to the sound of his laughter.

**ooOoo**

"What did it cost?"

Sakura rolled over to face him, a quizzical expression scrunching her brows together, "I don't understand the question."

"We won the war, right?" She nodded, so he continued. "How many did we lose?"

"Oh," the woman breathed out, taken off guard. Their conversations rarely took a turn for the serious. Sakura sat up, suddenly at attention, and answered with a quiet respect for the fallen. "Forty-six. Well, forty-five if we manage to unseal you."

He held her gaze, emotion heavy in his dark gaze. "Who?"

She sighed and patted the bed next to her. When he was seated, taking her up on her unspoken invitation, Sakura laced her fingers through his. "I didn't recognize most of the names on the memorial, the majority of them chuunin a few years ahead or behind me at the academy." Her bottom lip trembled and she took in a shaky breath. "Headquarters was destroyed by the Jyuubi. Shikaku, Inoichi, Aoba… everyone there was lost. And Neji… he died protecting Naruto and Hinata."

Silence covered them, broken only by the soft shuddering in Sakura's chest. Kakashi released her hand and brushed the tears from her face with the pads of his thumbs. He hesitated for a moment after that, searching her face for something, and then nodded his head. A strong arm curled behind her, around the small of her back, and dragged her over a leg to his chest. Long limbs framed her shorter ones and she could feel the beat of his heart echoing against her back, dancing through her ribcage to play music with her own. The man buried his head into the crook of her neck, a tangle of silver and rose, and anchored his arms around her middle.

And it wasn't until she felt the dampness build on her exposed skin that Sakura realized he was crying too.

"Any luck on the seal yet? I'd hate to be number forty-six."

"No," Sakura admitted, defeat in her voice. "And Lady Tsunade's running out of ideas. All we really know is that it's not an Uchiha technique."

Kakashi was quiet after that.

_But he didn't let her go._

**ooOoo**

"I think you should stop coming here."

"What?" the woman spat out, shocked, as she rounded on him, stopping a few short paces from his chair. "What the _hell_ are you going on about?"

Kakashi reclined, lifting his feet to rest on her desk, and spoke up, his voice and countenance schooled into a careful calm. "It's been over a month, Sakura."

"So?" Red seeped to surface, coloring her skin with anger, and she stepped closer. She'd come too far, _been through too much_, to resign him to fate. The woman visibly bristled, goose bumps raising the fine hairs on her arms, at the mere suggestion that she not follow through. "We're not giving up and neither should you."

Fingers ran through messy hair in frustration as his façade began to fall. "You're too naïve."

"And you're too cynical!"

"Dammit, Sakura, I'm trying to protect you," the man groaned as he stood up and hovered over her. "You need to start living your life again, not spend your time babysitting an old man."

"I can spend my time however I want, _old man_."

"What if I never wake up? What if I'm stuck here forever?" Kakashi placed his hands on her shoulders, fingers tugging at the fabric of her top, and she could feel slight tremors running through his body and into hers. "What if…"

"What if _what_?" Her voice came out with less righteous wrath than she had meant for it to, his change in demeanor causing a chain reaction – _panic, panic, panic_ – within her.

His hands pulled away from her body to be shoved deep into his pockets. Stepping back, he half-sat, half-leaned on the corner of the desk, and his eyes roved all about the room before landing on the ground near his feet. After a sustained exhalation, his gaze finally rested back on her expectant face and she could see the lines of worry as they began to gather. "I'm responsible for the deaths of both of my teammates." A hand returned to the silver at the base of his neck, scratching his anxiety into his scalp. "What if this is what I deserve?"

"You didn't–"

"Please don't try to justify it."

"I wasn–"

"I know what I did, Sakura."

"But–"

"They're still dead. I still have their blood on my hands."

"Shut up," she spoke sternly, covering his fabric-clothed mouth with both of her hands. "If you would let me speak, I could tell you that Obito did _not_ die from the wounds you inflicted. So if I move my hands, will you stop interrupting me?" The man nodded, his eye reflecting his puzzlement. "Good."

"Explain."

"Obito _was_ dying when he returned to the battlefield," Sakura started, moving to sit on the bed. The story was complicated and she had no desired to remain standing for the telling of it. "But Madara took control of him using the Senju genetic material that he had injected into Obito. That was how Obito had managed to survive all that time, you know. He was fused with a Zetsu." Kakashi motioned for her to continue. "Anyway, it was all really chaotic. Obito was bleeding out and Madara was forcing him through a series of complex hand signs. Minato believed that he was attempting to use the rinnegan to override the Edo Tensei, but Obito took control back. He started a new series of hand signs and before any of us realized what he was doing, Obito was transforming into the ten-tail's jinchuuriki. And well, you know how Naruto heals – and that's with just one tailed beast."

"Yeah, I do." Kakashi grabbed the backrest of the chair, slumping into it. "You met Minato?"

"Yes," Sakura smiled at the memory, before her lips thinned into a grimace. "Orochimaru brought him and the rest of the late Hokage to the battle."

"Interesting allies," he remarked, eyebrows raised. "But you can tell me about that development later. Right now, I've got some other issues that I want answers to."

"Ask away."

"How soon after he returned did Obito become the jinchuuriki?"

"Right away," she answered assuredly. "Five minutes tops. Why?"

"That fits," the shinobi muttered to himself, leaning forward and rubbing his cheeks. He turned back to Sakura with the beginnings of excitement in his eyes. "The other world seemed to pause within just a few minutes of Obito's departure. I had thought he died and that was what caused the strange state. But what if that wasn't it?"

"The guys did notice that he couldn't use his sharigan-based jutsu after he changed," Sakura added quickly, eyes bright with hope. Maybe if they went over what they knew, backtracked through that timeline from both sides, something useful would turn up. "Does that mean anything?"

"It means that whatever he used to seal me was something that was compatible with the Jyuubi's chakra."

The room went silent, both its occupants lost deep in thought, and Sakura began to pace. She could feel it, a niggling at the back of her brain. Something – _instinct, feminine intuition, or maybe some kind of sixth sense_ – told her that the next clue was just within her reach. The information that could lead to their next step ghosted over her tongue, but refused to form words. Grabbing a pillow, she tossed it in the air and punched through it as came back down.

The raining white did little to relieve her vexation.

"How did he die?"

Sakura shook her head, sending more fluff into the air, and brushed a hand over her face. "It was a combination of things really. Turns out the Jyuubi was weak against senjutsu, so between Naruto with his Sage abilities and Sasuke with his new curse seal – which just happens be senjutsu based – Obito took a lot of damage. With his accelerated healing though, he should have recovered, even if he lost the battle." She sat down again, heavy with memories. "But Obito's body couldn't handle the chakra. He didn't have the genetic capacity for it, even with the Senju DNA implanted within him. It began to tear him apart at the cellular level, attacking the Uchiha part of him until his organs just shut down."

"I–" Kakashi faltered, his voice soft but strained. He cleared his throat and ran his hand, fingers to one side and thumb stretched to the other, over his temples. "I see."

"I was there, you know, when he died," Sakura pulled her knees to her chest and turned down her tear-glossed eyes. "We – Naruto, Sasuke, and me – we were trying to force him to tell us what happened to you. Of course, Obito wouldn't tell us. But, I don't know. He got a little strange at the end. Well, _more_ strange…" She raised her head to gauge his reaction. "He called me Rin."

The man sucked in sharply and the air hissed between his teeth. He went rigid, his vertebrate straightening uncomfortably, as he weighed her words. "Could you show me?"

"I guess, but–"

"Please, Sakura."

The woman nodded hesitantly, but in the affirmative. Then she focused, eyes tightly shut, and changed the scene from one of peace and safety to the jarring chaos of the battlefield. The memory played out true as Sakura recalled the once dormant particulars of scent, sight, and sound in vivid detail. When it was all over and her room returned, she crumpled into the bed, completely spent.

"Sakura?"

"Yeah?"

"Is Konoha in possession of the rinnegan?"

"Yeah." The mattress dipped, inner springs squeaking under the added weight, and she felt heat radiant along the right side of her body. "Why?"

"He said _both_."

"You don't think he was talking about the kamui," Sakura pondered aloud. "You think he meant we would need both the sharigan and the rinnegan. The first to retrieve you and the other to undo the seal." Kakashi nodded, a tired smirk creasing his mask. "But even if that's true, there's no one who knows how to use it. You'll still be stuck."

"I think you're wrong about that, Sakura," he contended. "You should go see Naruto."

"How the hell is that knucklehead going to help?"

"You must be really tired." A masculine chuckle broke through the air. "He is still the nine-tail's jinchuuriki. Isn't he?"

Her fist struck swiftly, connecting with his shoulder solidly, and she put her back to him. "Seriously, just shut up."

Kakashi looped an arm around her waist, tugging her securely to his chest, and his words ghosted over her ear.

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"_I'm glad you didn't leave."_

**ooOoo**

"Hey, Sakura!" Blue eyes lit up and strong arms scooped her up into an enthusiastic embrace. "What are you doing here? Did you miss me?"

Scheduling an appointment with Naruto had been easier said than done. He'd been away for several months on a joint mission with Killer Bee that involved training new jinchuuriki – this time with volunteers on both sides of the shinobi and tailed beast spectrum – on the shimagame. Finding the travelling island had been a logistical nightmare, requiring the permission of both Lady Tsunade and the Raikage, not to mention an escort team of specialized Cloud jounin. In the end, the feat had taken less than a fortnight to accomplish. And when she considered all the inter-village red tape, Sakura was mostly satisfied with the results of her consistent nagging.

Her shishou said she had the makings of a diplomat and then proceeded to tell her not to let the door hit her in the ass on her way out.

Lord Ei offered to give her anything she wanted, with the exception of his village, if she would just shut the hell up and leave.

After all that trouble, if Naruto had nothing to contribute to her cause, the girl was sure that she would kill him. And then she'd bring him back so she could do it all over again.

"Of course, you idiot. I missed you," she replied, ruffling his unkempt hair. "But I'm actually here to speak with Kurama. It's… it's about Kakashi."

The blond scratched his chin, his eyes narrowing in thought. "I heard you found him. But he's still sealed or something?"

"Yeah, it's terrible." Sakura turned away, discreetly wiping her eyes. "Lady Tsunade's tried everything, but nothing has worked. Kakashi seems to think it might have something to do with the rinnegan."

"Come on," Naruto chided with a big grin. "He's a survivor, right? Besides, I'm sure the old fox has a few tricks up his sleeve. Sensei will be fine." He grabbed her hand, leading her down a forest path. "I'm starved. Let me show you the camp and we can talk over ramen."

One short walk, two pots of tea, and eight cups of noodles later, the pair of teammates were finally ready to get down to business. It was still a bit disconcerting for Sakura to watch the red bleed into Naruto's features, even if she knew that this time she was perfectly safe. There had been a time, in the not so distant past, when the girl had been the unfortunate recipient of the demon's claws. But the situation was different now, improved in many ways, so she trampled over her lingering fears and held the crimson gaze.

"You have questions for me, girl?"

"Yes." Sakura's eye twitched at the condescending tone and manner of speech employed by the demon, her emotions threatening to make her bold, but she bit her tongue. Regardless of Naruto's partnership with the fox, it would not be prudent to be anything other than polite. She willed her voice to present in a calm, soothing tone, but the words came clipped and terse instead. "What do you know about the rinnegan?"

"Naruto said you had quite a temper and he was right for once." A burst of guttural laughter pierced the tension and Kurama smacked her shoulder. "I was just having a bit of fun at your expense." The fox chuckled again at her shocked expression before considering her query. "The rinnegan, huh? Anything in particular you want to know?"

"Could it be used to seal someone?"

"Possibly," the creature mused. "Our first master, the Sage of Six Paths, used the rinnegan to preserve his mother when she passed away. He did not want her buried in the cold ground just to be eaten away by time and maggots, but neither did he want her returned to the ashes from whence she was created. Instead he stopped time, just the portion of it that occupied the same space as his mother. In doing so, she could remain with him forever, exactly as she was when she breathed her last."

Hope beat loudly in her chest, stronger and stronger with each of the fox's words. "If I had the rinnegan, would you be able to teach me how to use it?"

"No," the demon shook his head. "Even if I could explain it in a way you could understand, you don't have the bloodline to use it in that manner. Not without risking permanent damage to yourself."

"I see," the girl replied, the sound tiny and subdued. "Thank you for your time, Kurama."

"You are most welcome, Sakura."

Her slight frame shook from the effort of holding back her tears. The disappointment was so palpable – _increased by the fleeting piece of hope that he had given her_ – she could taste the bitterness in her mouth and her stomach wanted to purge it. Sakura curled in on herself, hiding her head in the cradle created by her knees and arms. Every bone felt like it was made of lead, heavy and unyielding under the immensity of her burden, and her muscles, ligaments, and tendons were powerless to support the weight.

_She had failed him._

But before she could sink too deeply or let the despair take root, the girl was lifted up into a familiar circle of arms.

"We can still do it, Sakura," he whispered in her ear. "I talked to Kurama and he said that if I was the one that had the rinnegan, he'd be able to undo the seal. I didn't understand all of it – stuff about bloodlines and descendants and compatibility crap – but he said it could work." Naruto ran his fingers over her hair in gentle strokes. "I'm coming back with you, so please stop crying. Jeez… Kakashi-sensei will be fine, okay?"

"If you say it, I'll trust you."

"He'll be awake before you know it." The blond grinned boldly, flashing teeth and blue-eyed confidence. "Believe it."

**ooOoo**

"So tomorrow's the big day," Sakura nudged him with her elbow. "Are you nervous?"

Kakashi rubbed his side, feigning injury. "You're sure he can do this?"

The entire process had been much less time consuming for Naruto than it had been for her. Recovery time had been reduced to a mere handful of days, helped along by the healing properties of the fox's chakra. And since the blond didn't have to actually learn anything, instead relying on the expertise of his demonic partner, his training was a non-issue. In fact, all that was required for Lady Tsunade to give the go ahead was a couple practical demonstrations. The successful sealing and unsealing of several carrier pigeons and one brave Akamaru proved sufficient. All in all, less than a fortnight had passed since the kunoichi had returned with the jinchuuriki.

"Yep," she replied, a confident smile spreading from ear to ear. "Believe it."

"You've been spending too much time with Naruto," the man groaned.

She merely shrugged and let the accusation fall by the wayside. And so they sat there, perched side to side on her bed, content in the companionable silence. Sakura let her head loll back to rest against the headboard, tilting it just a bit so that she could take in his profile. Inch by inch, she worked to memorize him, to retain his likeness for future reference, and she hoped that come tomorrow the images would line up the same.

_That the Kakashi that awoke would be the same one she had found here._

The woman was doing an admirable job of keeping up pretenses, all easy small talk and casual body language. Just under the surface though, a cacophony of emotions battled for dominance. All at once, Sakura was blissfully happy and eager to greet the coming day, terribly anxious with no small dose of worry, and just a tad frightened. But she pushed it all down, for now at least, in hopes of being a proper support to the man that had become very dear to her. There would be time tomorrow to freak out, when she was properly awake and not in his head.

"You know what I want to do?"

"So, we're playing that game again, huh?" Sakura crossed her arms in mock irritation and her face sported a look of challenge.

"No game this time." Kakashi shook his head at her antics, mirth lighting through his gaze before shifting to something more dangerous for her heart. "I want to see you with my own eyes. Not in here where we're just some intangible expression of our minds."

Her arms drifted back to her sides, the defensive posturing abandoned, and she struggled for a response. "I–"

"I'm not finished yet, Sakura," the man scolded softly. "I want to touch you with my own two hands," he took her hands in his, running his thumb over the ridges of her knuckles, "so I can feel your skin under my fingertips. I want to know that you're real, to feel you warm and solid in my grasp." Hands moved up her arms, his palms marking a path of heat from her wrists to the curve of her neck, and fingers curled into her cherry hair. "I want to bury my face in your hair, breathing in the scent of sunlight and wind, as I listen to steady beat of your heart." Kakashi gently pulled her closer – _brow to brow and nose to nose_ – and suddenly they were breathing the same air. "And more than anything, I want kiss you. But not here. When I do, I want it to be real."

Sakura dug her fingers into his vest and put her head to his chest. A quick, sharp staccato resounded in her ear and she was glad that his actions had not affected only her. She shuttered her wide, wide eyes and let his words sink in, marrow-deep. His confession had been surprising, yes, but not shocking. They had been dancing around line between friendship and more for awhile now, after all. And the happiness this revelation brought almost overwhelmed.

_It was time to start building something worthwhile._

"When you wake up, I'm going to hold you to it."

"Good."

**ooOoo**

Sakura spent the morning pacing the length of the Konoha Hospital waiting room, ignoring the curious looks sent her way by the staff, patients, and other visitors. She was a hum of constant motion, refusing to sit or eat or anything that got in the way of her exertion of anxious energy. By half past noon, the head nurse on duty had grown weary of watching Sakura's back and forth tedium – and answering questions about the crazy woman stalking about scaring children with the intensity of her scowl – and had her placed in one of the private waiting rooms usually reserved for dignitaries.

By four-fifteen in the evening, the woman had finally wore herself to exhaustion. She slumped down in one of the guest sofas, hard cushions and awkward angles digging into her back, and gave in to the tears that she had been forcing down all day.

Shortly after five o'clock, her shishou found her nearly passed out, face still damp and bloodshot eyes framed by purple circles of worry. "Sakura?"

Startled, the girl shot to her feet, "Is he?"

"He's fine," the blonde medic reassured with a tired smile. "There were some lingering effects from the seal that made healing his wounds a bit challenging, but he'll make a full recovery."

Sakura sagged in relief. "Can I see him?"

"Five minutes," Tsunade conceded, her tone brooking no argument, "and that's it. You look like hell and he should sleep through the night after all that anyway. If you step foot in this hospital again before you have a good meal and at least a few hours' sleep, you'll be on bedpan duty indefinitely. Are we clear, Sakura?"

"Yes, Shishou."

The girl did as she was told, looking in on Kakashi very briefly – _mollified that he did, in fact, appear to be doing quite well_ – before heading home. The troubles of the day, despite the positive outcome, had taken their toll. She decided on a shower first and by the time she was done, Sakura had no energy left to eat. Figuring she could just get something in the morning, she went to bed, her multitude of pillows welcoming her, and was asleep within seconds.

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_But the path of red was gone, along with Kakashi._


	11. Perspective

**Author's Note: **Well, here it is... the final chapter. It's not terribly long since most of the loose ends were taken care of in the previous chapter, but I hope everyone enjoys it! Please do let me know how you think it came out. After all, feedback is a wonderful thing.

And seriously, thank you guys so much for your patience, kind reviews, favorites and alerts!

**Prompt:** I'm Yours - The Script (Kakashi's P.O.V)  
**Word Count:** 1780  
**Warnings: **some language and sensuality, fluffiness

Also - A special thank you to my impromptu sort-of-beta, Naeryna! She has not seen the written chapters - so any mistakes you see are mine! - but she helped talk me through my outline to make sure I wasn't working some plot-hole-no-jutsu.

**Disclaimer:** Naruto belongs to Kishimoto. I am merely playing in the sandbox he has created. I am most definitely not receiving any monetary compensation for my child's play.

* * *

**ooOoo**

_And though I may not look like much  
I'm yours  
_**– The Script –**

**ooOoo**

* * *

Kakashi opened his lids with painstaking effort, the time spent in stasis making even the smallest movements sluggish, to the uninspiring view of clinical white. Blinking a couple times, and rolling his eyes around for good measure, he took a moment just to _breath_. He could feel the rush of blood through his veins, pumped throughout by his now-beating heart, and the warmth of his body heat as it soaked into the worn sheets of his hospital bed. And knowing that he finally – _really, truly, fully_ – had control, the freedom to manipulate his form at will rather than being imprisoned within it, was invigorating.

_His rescue was complete._

A smile slid across his face at the movement in his fingers, alternately squeezing into a fist and releasing, and Kakashi decided to take inventory of the rest of his parts. The man started from the bottom – _wiggling his toes, rotating his joints, and carefully stretching his legs_ – and then worked his way up. Wrists, elbows, and shoulders were all functioning properly, as was his neck and head. With a pulse of energy, he checked that his chakra network was in working order. Satisfied with his findings, he sat up, shifting his legs over the edge of the bed, and gingerly eased his soles to rest on the cool floor.

_So far, so good._

The more he moved, the better he felt, his muscles remembering their roles and gaining strength. His chakra hummed through his body, surging with potency, and he felt whole. Careful to keep a tight grip on the bed, fingers wrapped around the metal frame, the man stood for the first time in nearly two years. Vigor enveloped him, compelling him to test his limits. He began to walk, step by slow step, increasing speed with every new revolution of the cramped space. And when it was apparent that time had not altered his vivacity, the man felt a burst of gratefulness that overflowed. Kakashi ran a quick hand over his face, roughly removing the evidence of emotion, and felt his stomach flip with a sudden realization.

_She wasn't there._

Frankly, he was surprised. Her face, bright and beautiful, was the first sight he had expected to see. That she wasn't here – _that he woke alone, alone, alone_ – filled him with no small measure of disappointment. The man sat back down, ruffling his hair in frustration, and surveyed the space for a sign of her presence.

Perhaps she had just stepped out for a few minutes, needing a meal or fresh air or _something_.

But there was nothing, no evidence at all that she had even been in the room. Kakashi flopped down, no longer particularly interested in moving about, and rolled over to face the window, now framing the darkness of night. But after a second of moody contemplation, something clicked into place and he knew.

_Sakura had been sent home._

Kakashi considered the window and, upon the discovery that he had been placed on the first floor, opened it.

**ooOoo**

The door opened before he could even knock.

A single feminine hand rested on the knob, using it as means to maintain her balance, as she bent and contorted to the side in an effort to secure her heel inside an uncooperative sandal. Her hair fell around her face as she muttered expletives against the object of her struggle, hiding Kakashi's arrival from her view, so the man cleared his throat.

Surprise righted her posture and the shoe dropped with a dull thud, forgotten. Mismatched eyes, green and black and bright with unshed tears, went wide and her jaw began to work – _open and close and repeat, repeat, repeat_ – but no sound escaped. Lines of stress and exhaustion ran the length of her brow, temple to temple, and had settled in the outside corners of her red-rimmed eyes. She was still in her nightclothes, faded lounge pants paired with an obscenely thin tank, despite her apparent intent of departure and there was a lingering dampness imbedded in her unkempt locks. Her appearance was a conglomeration of messy and tired, as if she had battled through the night and was still unsure of victory.

_And she was the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen._

"Do you know how worried I was?" she chastised, the substitution of anger for shock allowing her tongue to resume speech. "I went to sleep and you weren't there!"

"I wasn't asleep."

"Yes, dammit, I can see that."

"Are you going to let me in, Sakura?" he spoke, leaning against the doorjamb. "I don't enjoy having my ass hang out for all your neighbors to see."

The woman turned aside to give him room for entrance, putting the handle at her back. As he crossed the threshold, she slowly reversed her steps and shut the door by backing her weight into it, but she never let her gaze drift from him. "So, you're a fugitive now," she gestured to his hospital gown, a wry grin tugging at her lips. "We can expect a retrieval squad within the hour. Lady Tsunade takes the safety of those under her care very seriously."

"When they come, I'll go back like a good patient," he countered, drawing close enough to rest his hands on the wood at her back. "I'm just here to keep a… promise of sorts."

"Oh?"

And that was it.

His restraint was gone with but a flutter of her lashes. Her expression, all wide-eyed innocence and feminine instinct and coy flirtation, scorched a path through the reasoning center of his brain and all that was left behind was compulsion. Hands skimmed up the curve of her shoulders, fingers moved to tangle themselves in her fragrant hair, and a single thumb rested lightly over the pulse under her jawline. Another half step and he felt the press of soft flesh against the hard plane of his chest, her shallow breaths increasing and decreasing the pressure in a fascinating rhythm. Kakashi listed forward, the tips of his messy fringe intermingling with hers, as his hands gently tilted her face upwards.

Sakura rested her palm against cheek, stroking his mask with the calloused edge of her thumb, and he leaned into her touch. Her eyes darted to his and he could see her intent clearly. A nod from him and the woman was ready to redouble her attentions. She hooked a single finger under the hem of the dark fabric and dragged it – _down, down, down over cheekbone and mouth and cleft of chin _– with a deliberate slowness, leaving a trail of heat in the wake of her skin on his. With that last barrier gone, Kakashi continued on his journey.

The connection – _mouth to eager mouth and heart to devoted heart_ – was like coming home. Her lips were warm and pliant under his own, with only the slightest hint of uncertainty. Hands curled into the material about his shoulders, pulling him closer, and her hesitation was gone. He deepened the kiss, running the tip of his tongue over the inner curve of her top lip, and she let out a small gasp. A teasing smirk marked his lips and the man knew she felt it as he pressed it into her mouth. It grew wider, into a full-out grin, when he registered the light slap she gave him in retribution. But then he drew in her bottom lip – _tender nips punctuated by gentle suction_ – and a moan fell from her mouth, the reverberation sending delicious shivers up his spine.

_All playfulness was gone. _

His fingers left the shower-slick softness of her hair, trailing down her shoulders to ghost over the swell of her breasts and tickle her sides before digging firmly into the flesh at her hips. Sakura arched into him, her nails scratching into the silver on the back of his neck, and opened her mouth fully to his advances. So Kakashi kissed her – _a symphony of lips, tongues, and mutual breath, and the touching of bare skin under coarse fingertips_ – until personal space became a thing he knew he'd never want again and the lack of oxygen made him light-headed. And just when his thoughts had turned towards the possibility of something more, brought on by the taste of her delicious skin under his tongue and the way she had her legs wrapped around his waist, the knock on the door came.

"I think that's your cue," Sakura whispered as she began to collect herself, extricating her limbs and smoothing down her mussed hair.

"Maybe I lied," he whispered back, tugging on the fleshy part of her ear with his teeth. "Maybe I have no intention of leaving."

"I think I'm going to be sick." A muffled masculine voice sounded from the other side of the door. The man raised the volume of his voice. "I can hear you guys. You're leaning against my element, you know."

"Tenzou?" Kakashi asked, raising his brows at Sakura in question. "They found you?"

"I'll tell you all about it. On the way to the _hospital_," the other shinobi called out with pointed emphasis.

"Go on," Sakura encouraged, pushing at his chest. "I need my rest anyway. You owe me a date tomorrow."

Kakashi stole another kiss, a chaste peck on her mouth. "A date?"

"Yep," a bright, genuine smile graced her now-swollen lips. "A picnic on a sunny hilltop overlooking the village. If I remember correctly, it's supposed to be an all-day event."

"I think we can work something out."

Sakura opened the door, looking wonderfully rumpled and thoroughly kissed, and started to push him over the threshold, but stopped mid-stride. "Oh damn, I'm dating my sensei. Do you know how much I'm going to get teased over this?"

"_Ex_-sensei," Kakashi corrected. "And I have a pretty good idea. I happen to be dating my ex-student."

"Can we wrap this up already? I'd rather not keep the Hokage up much longer," a disgruntled Yamato interjected.

"Fine." The woman sent the Anbu agent an evil glare before facing Kakashi. The abrupt change in her countenance, from fear-inducing to flirtation, was enthralling. "I'll see you tomorrow as soon as you're released."

"I don't know about that," he bent down, breathing softly into her ear, "I was under the impression that I'd see you in my dreams."

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_Eventually sleep found them both – she in her room and he in his hospital bed – causing the connecting path to radiate with lovely red once again._

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_And this time, they met inside Sakura's head._


End file.
